Kalraj Mishra gets MSME ministry, Nirmala Sitharaman commerce

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Saurabh Gupta | 27 May, 2014
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday allocated portfolios to his ministers, giving charge of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to Kalraj Mishra as Cabinet Minister and Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge), Finance, Corporate Affairs to Nirmala Sitharaman as Minister of State.

71-year-old Mishra, a veteran of Uttar Pradesh politics, is making his ministerial debut at the Centre. He contested the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections from Deoria and defeated his nearest BSP rival by a margin of 2.65 lakh votes.

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha on three occasions - first in 1980, then 1986 and later in August 2001.

Born in Ghazipur District of Uttar Pradesh. He obtained his M.A. degree from Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi. He joined politics and held many party positions at state and national level. In the 2012 assembly elections, Mishra was elected from the Lucknow East seat.

While the 59-year-old, Tamil Nadu born, Nirmala Sitharaman is not a member of either Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha presently, she is likely to be nominated to the Upper House by BJP. She is a BJP spokesperson and also a former member of National Commission for Women.

PM has allocated portfolios to his ministers, giving charge of finance and defence to Arun Jaitley and making Sushma Swaraj the new external affairs minister.

BJP president Rajnath Singh was made the home minister, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.

Modi and his ministerial colleagues were sworn-in at an impressive ceremony Monday evening.