NEW DELHI: Nitin Gadkari assumed charge as Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways on Wednesday for the third consecutive time under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Ministers of State Ajay Tamta and Harsh Malhotra also took charge alongside Gadkari on Wednesday.
Gadkari thanked Prime Minster Modi for “reassigning” the role for the third time.
“Heartfelt gratitude to PM Modi for reassigning me this role in Modi 3.0. Under your visionary leadership, India will be equipped with world-class, modern infrastructure at an accelerated pace,” the Union Minister said in a post on X.
Gadkari won the Lok Sabha elections from Maharashtra’s Nagpur constituency by a margin of 1,37, 603 votes. However, Gadkari’s winning margin went down by 78,397 in this election. In 2019, he had defeated Congress’ Nana Patole by 2,16,000 votes.
Gadkari entered politics as a student leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) and later joined the Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP.
The BJP leader has been a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council since 1989. He served as the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1999-2005 and also headed the Maharashtra Pradesh BJP till 2009 as the State president. In the same year, he was elevated to the post of BJP national president, making him the youngest-ever party president.
The BJP leader served as a PWD minister in Maharashtra between 1995 and 1999. Gadkari gave the party president post in January 2013 to become the Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Minister of Shipping in the first Modi Cabinet in May 2014.
During the second term of the BJP-led central government in 2019, Gadkari retained the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, while the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation were replaced with the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
