Piyush Goyal on Sunday became one of the select few ministers to be reinducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. Goyal who contested the Lok Sabha polls for the first time was a Union Minister in both 2014 and 2019.
The 60-year-old Goyak was sworn into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new Union Council of Ministers on Sunday at a grand ceremony held at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Goyal defeated Mumbai Congress vice president Bhushan Patil, 55, by a margin of nearly 3,57,608 votes in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Goyal who won the Mumbai North constituency with a sizable vote margin in the 2024 parliamentary elections initially held Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry portfolios in the 2019 Union Cabinet.
Later, the Railways ministry was divested and he was handed the additional responsibility of the Food and Public distribution portfolio.
He was earlier the Minister of Railways and Coal (2017-19) and also held additional charge of Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs twice in 2018 and 2019. He was Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy (2014-2017), and Mines (2016-17).
Goyal was the Member of the Upper House of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha), and the Leader of House in Rajya Sabha in the second term of Modi’s prime ministership.
As railways minister, the chartered accountant and investment banker oversaw the launch of the first indigenous semi-high-speed train, the Vande Bharat Express between Delhi and Varanasi.
During his 35 year-long political career, Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has served as the National Treasurer of the Party.
In the 2019 Indian General Elections, he was a member of the Manifesto and Publicity Committees. He also headed the BJP’s Information Communication Campaign Committee for the Indian General Elections 2014.
Goyal has had a brilliant academic record–all-India second rank Chartered Accountant and second rank holder in Law in Mumbai University. He was a well-known investment banker and has advised top corporations on management strategy and growth. He also served on the Board of India’s largest commercial bank, the State Bank of India and the Bank of Baroda.
His father, Late Vedprakash Goyal, was a former Union Minister of Shipping, and the National Treasurer of the BJP for over two decades. His mother, Chandrakanta Goyal, was elected three times to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from Mumbai.
Goyal is married to Seema, an active social worker, and has two children, Dhruv and Radhika
Others who were sworn in before Goyal include Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar. BJP President JP Nadda who was the health minister in the Union Cabinet duing the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was brought back this time while former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was inducted as a Cabinet minster for the very first time.
Mahohar Lal Khattar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hardeep Singh Puri, H D Kumarasway, Jyotiraditya Scindia were also among the new council of ministers sworn in today.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and Seychelles Vice President Ahmed Afif.
Apart from two terms as Prime Minister beginning 2014, Narendra Modi also has the distinction of being the longest-serving Chief Minister of Gujarat with his term spanning from October 2001 to May 2014.
PM Modi led BJP-led NDA to third successive victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP won absolute majority on its own in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls winning 282 and 303 seats respectively.
PM Modi leads an NDA coalition with 292 seats in the Parliament and has laid thrust on making India a developed nation by 2047.
