Mansukh Mandaviya was appointed as the new Union Sports Minister, replacing Anurag Thakur, on Monday, June 10 in the new cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The President of India Draupadi Murmu, as advised by the Prime Minister, directed the allocation of portfolios of the Union Council of Ministers, a day after Narendra Modi and 71 ministers of the coalition NDA government took oath in New Delhi.
Mansukh Mandaviya, 52, will take over the Sports Ministry, months ahead of the Paris Olympics, which gets underway on July 26. India are hopeful of a historic medal tally and the preparations for the quadrennial global spectacle were being overseen by Anurag Thakur.
Mansukh Mandaviya is the seventh Union Sports Minister after Sarbananda Sonowal, Jitendra Singh, Vijay Goel, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Kiren Rijiju and Anurag Thakur since the first Modi-led government in 2014.
Notably, Mansukh Mandaviya has returned to the PM Modi-led cabinet after having served as the Health Minister in the previous cabinet. The Gujarat leader oversaw the implementation of the Covid-19 vaccine program after taking charge in 2021. Mandaviya was also the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Chemicals and Fertilizers of India in the previous cabinet.
Meanwhile, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, who retained her Lok Sabha seat by winning the Raver constituency in Maharashtra, was appointed as the MoS in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Apart from the Union Sports Ministry, Mansukh Mandaviya will also head the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Mansukh Mandaviya fought the Lok Sabha elections for the first time after being a Rajya Sabha member for two terms. Mandaviya won the Porbandar seat in Gujarat after defeating Congress’ Lalit Vasoya by a margin of more than 3 lakh votes.