Mansukh Mandaviya, who served because the union well being minister on the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, was on Monday appointed as India’s new sports activities minister, changing Anurag Thakur in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cupboard. The 52-year-old Mandaviya gained the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat by defeating his nearest Congress rival Lalit Vasoya by a margin of three.83 lakh votes. Concurrently, Mandaviya was additionally given cost of the ministry of chemical substances and fertilisers within the new cupboard unveiled on Monday. Moreover, Raksha Khadse, a three-time BJP MP from Maharashtra’s Raver, was made Minister of State (Sports activities) below Mandaviya.

The 37-year-old Raksha is the daughter-in-law of Eknath Khadse, an NCP chief of the Sharad Pawar faction who has determined to change again to the BJP.

She gained the 2024 Lok Sabha election by almost 3 lakh votes, defeating her nearest rival Shriram Patil from the NCP-Sharad Pawar faction.

Her husband, Nikhil Khadse, died in 2013.

Mandaviya was entrusted with the well being portfolio in the course of 2021 when the nation was battling the COVID-19 disaster. At the moment, he had changed Dr Harsh Vardhan, who was dropped from the Council of Ministers as a part of a reshuffle.

Mandaviya’s ministry was then tasked with ramping up the provision of oxygen and medicines and overseeing the vaccination programme through the extreme second wave of COVID-19. Within the newly sworn in authorities, the well being ministry has been given to J P Nadda.

The just-concluded polls had been Mandaviya’s first Lok Sabha election. He was born in Bhavnagar on June 1, 1972.

Earlier than being nominated as a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, he had gained as an MLA from Palitana meeting seat of Bhavnagar district in 2002.

The outgoing Thakur was among the many 37 ministers dropped from the third successive Modi authorities. Thakur held the publish since July 7, 2021 serving because the sports activities minister for almost three years.

India achieved its best-ever efficiency on the Olympics throughout his tenure, successful a document seven medals within the Tokyo Video games barely a number of weeks after he took over the ministry from Kiren Rijiju following a reshuffle.

He was additionally on the helm of affairs when the federal government determined to make medal winners in all Khelo India competitions eligible for presidency jobs after a revision in standards.

When this was introduced in March, Thakur mentioned the transfer was in step with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “imaginative and prescient of a sturdy sports activities ecosystem, nurturing expertise at grassroots degree and turning sports activities right into a profitable and viable profession possibility.” Throughout Thakur’s tenure because the sports activities minister, India additionally began making a pitch to launch an bold bid to host the 2036 Olympic Video games for the primary time ever.

Bullish about India securing the internet hosting rights, Thakur has all the time maintained that part of the credit score for the nation’s bettering sporting performances goes to the federal government’s flagship Khelo India initiative, which was launched in 2017 and will get a lion’s share of budgetary allocation.

Thakur, who started his political profession in 2008 and has represented the Hamirpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh 5 occasions, had additionally reckoned the nation will likely be among the many top-five medal successful nations on this planet prior to later.