Party returns to old hands

C.P. THAKUR: The 72-year-old leader from Bihar rejoins the Cabinet after six months of exile. He had earlier held important portfolios of He...

C.P. THAKUR: The 72-year-old leader from Bihar rejoins the Cabinet after six months of exile. He had earlier held important portfolios of Health and Water Resources in the Vajpayee Cabinet. Removed under controversial circumstances, his ouster was seen as a political affront to the Bhumihars of Bihar. He is a third-time MP from Patna.

SANGH PRIYA GAUTAM: A veteran politician, Sangh Priya Gautam is an old organisational hand in the BJP. A Rajya Sabha member from Uttaranchal, Gautam holds the cause of Dalits and farmers close to his heart.

Once again, all the Prime Minister8217;s men

CABINET MINISTERS
A.B. Vajpayee: PM and in-charge of Planning, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space; L.K. Advani: DPM, in charge of Home, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Ananth Kumar: Urban Development 038; Poverty Alleviation; T.R. Baalu: Environment 038; Forests; Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa: Chemicals 038; Fertilisers; George Fernandes: Defence; Anant Gangaram Geete: Power; Syed Shahnawaz Hussain: Civil Aviation; Jagmohan: Tourism and Culture; Satya Narayan Jatiya: Social Justice 038; Empowerment; Murli Manohar Joshi: HRD, Science 038; Technology and Ocean Development; Arun Jaitley: Law and Justice and Commence and Industry; Sushma Swaraj: Parliamentary Affairs and Health and Family Welfare; Murasoli Maran: Without portfolio; Karia Munda: Coal; Ram Naik: Petroleum 038; Natural Gas; Nitish Kumar: Railways; Jual Oram: Tribal Affairs; Shatrughan Sinha: Shipping; Balasaheb Vikhe Patil: Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises; Kashiram Rana: Textiles; Arjun Charan Sethi: Water Resources; Shanta Kumar: Rural Development; Arun Shourie: Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology; Ajit Singh: Agriculture; Jaswant Singh: Finance and Company Affairs; Yashwant Sinha: External Affairs; Sahib Singh Verma: Labour; Vikram Verma: Youth Affairs and Sports; Sharad Yadav: Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; C.P. Thakur: Small Scale Industry and Development of North Eastern Region

MINISTERS OF STATE INDEPENDENT CHARGE
M. Kannappan: Non-Conventional Energy Sources; Maj Gen Retd B.C. Khanduri: Road Transport 038; Highways; N.T. Shanmugam: Food Processing Industries; B.K. Tripathy: Steel; Sangha Priya Gautam: Agro and Rural Industry; Ravi S. Prasad: Information and Broadcasting; Ramesh Baissss: Mines.

DR CHATTARAPAL SINGH: An Ayurvedic doctor, Singh had joined BJP in 1991 after quitting the Lok Dal. This 56-year-old has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Bulandshahr Uttaranchal for the fourth time.

DILIP K. MANSUKHLAL GANDHI: The 51-year-old Lok Sabha member is credited with having raised 352 BJP units in Maharashtra 8212; a factor that contributed to the widening of the party8217;s support base in the state. Formerly a councilor in Ahmednagar, Manshukla entered the Lok Sabha from Ahmednagar in 1999. A member of the SC community, he had participated in the BJP8217;s Ayodhya campaign.

JASKAUR MEENA: The 55-year-old educationist from Dausa in Rajasthan was elected to Lok Sabha from Sawai Madhopur in 1999. Before that, she had quit her job as a government school teacher to set up a school for girls by launching a peoples8217; movement in village Mainpura in her constituency. A graduate from Rajasthan University, Meena belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community.

BHAVANA DEVRAJ CHIKHALIA: This 48-year-old member from Junagarh in Guajarat is a renowned social worker and an advocate. Armed with an MA, LLB degree from Gujarat University, Bhavanaben joined BJP in 1991. It is probably due to her involvement in social work at the grassroots level that she has made it to the Lok Sabha for the fourth time. She is considered close to Keshubhai Patel.