Profiles of new ministers

Manmohan brings new faces in the Caninet

Chandresh Kumari Katoch  has been made a Cabinet minister in the union government for the first time although she has been active in Himachal Pradesh politics since 1972 when she became a member of the Legislative Assembly. The sister of Maharaja Gaj Singh of the Jodhpur royal family, she is has good relations with Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and presently is an MP from Jodhpur. She has been a cabinet minister in Virbhadra Singh headed Himachal Pradesh government. Katoch first contested and won a Lok Sabha election in 1984, after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

K Rahman Khan the former Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, is currently in his fourth term in the Upper house. A prominent face in the Muslim community, he has been sworn as a full ranked Cabinet minister handling the Minority Affairs portfolio. Khan is a long-time member of the Congress, starting off his career in the Karnataka legislative Assembly in 1978. He has had an earlier stint in the Union council of ministers as MoS for Chemicals and Fertilizers.

Manish Tewari :  The high-profile Congress spokesperson has been stoutly defending the party as spokesperson as well as a member in the JPC panel looking into the contentious 2G telecom case. Tewari has been associated with organizational activities of the Congress over a long period of 31 years, starting off as General Secretary of the youth wing of the party NSUI and then the Youth Congress in the early ‘80s. Although elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 2009 from Ludhiana constituency, he has served as Secretary, AICC.

Tewari’s long record of service to the party appears to have been rewarded with not just this inclusion into the Council of ministers but being given MoS (Independent) charge of a crucial portfolio such as I&B.  

K Chiranjeevi,  a popular matinee idol originally from Andhra Pradesh; his magic on the silver screen has not been limited to one state alone, he is known face in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films as well. After a long successful career in films, Chiranjeevi launched his own political party, Praja Rajyam in 2008 and contested nearly 115 seats in the Andhra Pradesh assembly elections in 2009 but could manage to win only 18 seats. However, the party which began as Opposition to the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh, finally merged with the same political in February last year, thereby strengthening the declining fortunes of the Congress in the state. Chiranjeevi was first rewarded with a Rajya Sabha seat and now the first time MP, has been made Minister of State (Independent charge).     

Deepa Dasmunshi : The wife of senior Congress leader and former I&B minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, is an MP from Raiganj in West Bengal. A known TMC chief Mamta Banerjee baiter, her entry into the Cabinet signals the growing clout of the Bengal Congress lobby against the Bengal chief minister.  Dasmunshi is a first time MP and prior to that was MLA in the Assembly from 2006 to 2009. She will take over as Minister of State, Culture.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, three-time MP from Berhampur in West Bengal, holds considerable clout in Murshidabad district. He played a crucial role in mobilizing the party organization for both Pranab Mukherjee’s electoral victories as Lok Sabha MP. Recently, it was Chowdhury who proposed the name of the now President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit as MP from Jangipur.

Alongwith Dasmushi, Chowdhury has been a vocal critic of the actions of the Trinamool Congress in Bengal. He will take over as MoS Railways.