Modi Cabinet 3.0: Repeat Ministers Include Shah, Rajnath, Jaishankar, Sitharaman, Gadkari, Goyal

In the Modi 3.0 Cabinet, several senior ministers have got the distinction of finding a place once again. These Union ministers, who took oath after PM Modi on Sunday, included Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, S Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and others.

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was sworn-in on Sunday in Delhi for his third consecutive term, has repeated several ministers in his new council of ministers, who took oath today. Those who retained their berths included Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitaraman, S Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Sarbananda Sonawal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Chirag Paswan, G Kishan Reddy, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya, Hardeep Singh Puri and Jitendra Singh.

• Amit Shah:Amit Shah has been seen as second in command after PM Modi in the BJP-led NDA government in the first two terms. Shah has served as the Union Minister for Home Affairs in PM Modi's second term from 2019 to 2024. A close confidante of PM Modi, Amit Shah was elected from Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency in 2024 and 2019. Earlier he served as the president of Bharatiya Janata Party from 2014 to 2020. He has been serving as the country's first Minister for Cooperation since the inception of the key portfolio since 2021. Amit Shah is the third leader to take oath after PM Modi was sworn in on Sunday.
• Rajnath Singh: Rajnath Singh was the second leader to be sworn in after PM Modi was administered oath on Sunday. He had earlier served as the Union Defence Minister from 2019 to 2024 during the second term of Prime Minister Modi. In the first term of Modi from 2014 to 2019, Rajnath Singh was the Union Minister for Home Affairs. He had earlier served as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh from 2000 to 2002. Born into a family of farmers, Rajnath Singh became an activist of RSS in early life and later served as the president of the BJP from 2005 to 2009.
• Nitin Gadkari: Nitin Jairam Gadkari has been the longest serving Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways in the first two terms of PM Modi. Born on 27th May 1957 in a Maharashtrian farmers' family, he rose from the ranks of ABVP and BJP Yuva Morcha. Gadkari had earlier rendered his services as the president of BJP from 2009 to 2013. He got recognition for developing highways and flyovers in Maharashtra as the State's Public Words Department Minister before he rose to the national level positions.
• Nirmala Sitharaman: Nirmala Sitharaman, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, took oath as a minister in the PM Modi cabinet once again. She served as the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs in the Modi 2.0 cabinet since 2019. Born in a Tamil Iyengar family, Sitharaman had the distinction of working as the country's defence minister as well.
• S Jaishankar: Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, has been serving as the Union Minister for External Affairs in the Modi 2.0 cabinet. Before becoming a Union Minister, Jaishankar has got 38-year-long diplomatic career and he was a 1977 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS).
• Piyush Goyal: Piyush Vedprakash Goyal won from the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections. Born in 1964, he was a chartered accountant and had earlier served as the national treasurer of the BJP. Piyush Goyal is currently serving as the Minister for Commerce, Industry, Textiles, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
• Giriraj Singh: Giriraj Singh won from the Begusarai Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar in the 2024 general elections. He is the incumbent Union Minister for Rural Development and Pachayati Raj. Between 2005 2013, Giriraj Singh has served in various ministries in the Bihar government. He is known for his strong support for Prime Minister Modi since the beginning.
• Jyotiraditya Scindia: Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, has been serving as the Minister for Civil Aviation and Steel in the Modi second term.
• Gajendra Singh Shekhawat: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has won from the Jodhpur Lok Sabha constituency consecutively in 2024, 2019 and 2014. He has been serving as the Union Minister for Jal Shakti since 2019. Earlier, he worked as the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.
• G Kishan Reddy: Gangapuram Kishan Reddy won from the Secunderabad Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections. He served as the Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region of India.
• Chirag Paswan: Chirag Kumar Paswan, who is the president of the Lok Janshankti Party (Ram Vilas), won from the Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections.
• Ashwini Vaishnaw: Ashwini Vaishnaw, a member of Rajya Sabha from Odisha, is a former IAS officer who served as the Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology from 2022 to 2024.
• Jitendra Singh: Jitendra Singh, who is elected from the Udhampur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections, is the incumbent Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office. Earlier, he served as the chief spokesperson of the BJP Jammu and Kashmir unit.
• Sarbananda Sonowal: Sarbananda Sonowal, who is a former chief minister of Assam, had also served as the chief of the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party. He is current Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways. A Rajya Sabha member from Assam, Sonowal was a student union leader who worked for the Asom Gana Parishad initially. Later, he joined the BJP and rose to become the CM and eventually Union Minister.
• Mansukh Mandaviya: Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya has been inducted as a cabinet minister in the Modi 3.0 government. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha election, Mandaviya won from Gujarat’s Porbandar. In the Modi 2.0 government in 2019 Mandaviya was the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, before he was given the responsibility as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare in 2021. Mandaviya earlier served as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers from 2021 to 2024. He was a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat.
• Hardeep Singh Puri: Hardeep Singh Puri, a former diplomat, was the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs in the Modi 2.0 government. Puri also served as the Minister of State for Civil Aviation. He also holds the record as the longest serving Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs. Presently, Puri is continuing his second term as a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh. In 2019, he unsuccessfully contested the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat for the BJP.