Modi Cabinet reshuffle in pics 9 new faces included 4 MoS promoted

With the third and last cabinet reshuffle before the 2019 elections, nine new faces have been inducted in PM Narendra Modi’s Union Council of Ministers. Apart from these, four ministers of state (MoS) have been promoted to the Cabinet rank. Here are things you should know about these ministers:

Popularly known as Delhi's Demolition Man when he was Commissioner of the Delhi Development Authority, Alphons Kannanthanam is a distinguished former IAS officer of the 1979 batch, Kerala cadre. He is also a practicing advocate.

Lok Sabha MP from Buxar, Bihar, Ashwini Kumar Choubey is a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Estimates and Standing Committee on Energy apart from being a Member of Central Silk Board.

Anant Kumar Hegde is a Lok Sabha MP from Uttara Kannada, Karnataka. Further, he also fulfills the role of a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and Human Resource Development.

Former IFS officer of the 1974, Hardeep Singh Puri is the President and Chairman of Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) think tank. Further, he has also fulfilled the role of the Vice President of International Peace Institute, New York.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is a Lok Sabha MP from Jodhpur, Rajasthan and a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and Chairperson of the Fellowship Committee.

Distinguished former IPS officer of the 1980 batch, Satya Pal Singh is a Lok Sabha MP from Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. He is a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs and Chairperson of the Joint Committee on Offices of Profit. Moreover, he has also been the Commissioner of Police of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur – and is credited for breaking the backbone of organised crime syndicates in Mumbai in the 1990s.

Shiv Pratap Shukla is a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh and a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development. A Law Graduate with an LLB from Gorakhpur University, he entered politics as a student leader in the 1970s.

Raj Kumar Singh is a Lok Sabha MP from Arrah, Bihar and a Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committees on Health and Family Welfare, Personnel, Pensions and Public Grievances and Law & Justice.

Virendra Kumar represents Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgah Lok Sabha constituency. With a distinguished career in Public Service as a 6 term Lok Sabha MP he holds an MA in Economics and a PhD in Child Labour.

Elevated to Cabinet rank, Dharmendra Pradhan till now was the MoS, Petroleum and Natural Gas. He has performed well donning a twin role of an MoS and a party worker.

Before being inducted in Modi cabinet, Nirmala Sitharaman was one of the party's chief spokespersons. As the MoS Commerce Ministry, she has negotiated a lot of trade agreements with various countries, provided a lot of support to Prime Minister’s favourite – Start-Up scheme.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is seen to have strongly defend the government besides managing ties with the opposition.

Piyush Goyal, the Minister of State for Power played a crucial role in improving power generation capacity, particularly in renewable sector.