Uttar Pradesh has got the lion's share while Uttarakhand has got no berth in the Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers.
Unlike the previous governments, Modi government has just two ministers who are above 70 years- Kalraj Mishra and Najma Hepthullah. The old guards like LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Dr CP Thakur have been kept out. They are expected to play the role of mentors.
Uttar Pradesh
Among the nine MP's from Uttar Pradesh who got ministerial berth in the council of ministers, BJP chief and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh, former MP Chief Minister and Jhansi MP Uma Bharti, Deoria MP Kalraj Mishra and Pilibhit MP Maneka Gandhi will represent the state as Union cabinet ministers.
Rajnath Singh
Rajnath Singh who was Uttar Pradesh chief minister during Vajpayee regime is now Home Minister and number two in the government. The BJP insiders say that it marks the end of Vajpayee - Advani era in the party and heralds the beginning of Modi - Rajnath era. BJP president Rajnath Singh who has been a staunch supporter of Narendra Modi is now the second in-command in the Union cabinet. The well-coordinated efforts of party's national president and prime ministerial candidate sailed the BJP through rough waters.
Rajnath is the longest-serving chief of the BJP after Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After his resignation from the post of the party president, JP Nadda is learnt to ave been cleared by Rajnath and tje RSS as a replacement.
Uma Bharti
This is the second time that the saffron clad leader, often referred to as 'sadhvi', has become a Union minister in an NDA government. She contested from Jhansi in UP and defeated her nearest rival from Samajwadi Party by a margin of nearly two lakh votes.
Actively involved in the 'Ramjanmabhoomi' movement, she has been named in the Liberhan Commission report on the demolition of the Babri mosque at the disputed site in Ayodhya.
Smriti Irani
Like Sushma Swaraj and Uma Bharti, Smriti Irani is also known for her oratory skills. 38-year-old Irani is the youngest minster in the Modi cabinet. She is Human Resource Development Minister. Chosen by the party to give a fight to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, Irani is also considered close to Modi.
The Ministers of State representing Uttar Pradesh in Parliament include Ghaziabad MP General (retired) Vijay Kumar Singh, former Union Minister and Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar, Ghazipur MP Manoj Sinha and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Baliyan.
General (retired) VK Singh
Controversial former Army chief Gen V K Singh, who has been made the minister of state (independent charge) in the Narendra Modi government, has somewhat of chequered past with one episode being a long unsuccessful battle with the UPA government over his age issue.
Singh, 63, lost the legal battle over his age issue with the defence ministry in 2012 and joined Anna Hazare's anti-corruption agitation against the UPA Government before joining the BJP just before the elections.
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Bihar
Bihar has received a bounty of five ministers in the just sworn-in Narendra Modi Cabinet as against the duck the state had ended up with in UPA-II.
The leaders from the state who were sworn in as part of Modi's Cabinet are Ravishankar Prasad, Radha Mohan Singh and LJP chief Paswan (all three as Cabinet Ministers).
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Ravi Shankar Prasad has got Law and Telecom. It's said that Modi wants to reform Telecom sector and give it an image makeover. He came into the limelight after he got success in getting a case registered against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad. The 57-year-old BJP leader from Bihar is a Supreme Court lawyer and the deputy leader of the party in Rajya Sabha.
As a student leader, Prasad participated in the JP movement and was imprisoned during the Emergency. His father was one of the founder members of Jan Sangha. He was a junior minister in Vajpayee government.
Radha Mohan Singh
Purvi Champaran MP Radha Mohan Singh, considered close to the RSS, has become Agriculture Minister. Rajiv Pratap Rudy, unexpectedly, did not get a berth in the Modi cabinet.
Ram Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan who served as the Railways Minister from 1996 to 1998 broke away from the Janata Dal (United) to form his Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in 2000. Paswan's LJP quit the NDA in the wake of the Gujarat riots in 2002. Joining hands with the same party after the aquittal of Modi in Godhra case, he got huge success in Bihar. He has become Food and Civil Supplies Minister.
Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP) is MoS-Independent charge, and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party chief Upendra Kushwaha is Minister of State (Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation)
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh has bagged four seats in the Modi cabinet. Senior BJP leader and Vidisha MP Sushma Swaraj, Rajya Sabha member Najma Heptulla, Madhya Pradesh BJP MP chief Narendra Singh Tomar and Thawar Chand Gehlot.
Sushma Swaraj
Leader of Opposition in the last Lok Sabha and Vidisha MP, Sushma Swaraj, who was the top most contender from Madhya Pradesh for a Union Cabinet berth, became the first woman to bag the External Affairs Ministry of India.
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the portfolios for his ministers a day after he was sworn in along with his Cabinet, Sushma Swaraj clearly emerged as one of the biggest gainers.
Reports earlier had suggested that party was mulling to give her HRD ministry, however, she had reportedly expressed her desire that she wanted one of the 4 key ministries- Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs.
But, given the fact that her relations with Modi had not exactly been cordial, there was a question mark on whether she would be in the top four ministers occupying North and South block at Raisina Hills. Sushma and Modi's strained equation has been in the news ever since Modi emerged a contender for the PM candidature.
Narendra Singh Tomar
Before making his debut in the Union Council of Ministers, 56-year-old Narendra Singh Tomar has held several important positions in the party and was instrumental in ensuring a third term for Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan besides a thumping victory for the party in the Lok Sabha polls.
Tomar, who is known for his connect with the rank and file of the party, shares a good rapport with the RSS leadership.
The second-time MP, who won Lok Sabha poll from Gwalior, made his first foray into active politics in 1980 after he became the President of the Gwalior unit of BJP Youth Forum. The BJP loyalist gradually became a municipal councilor and the state President of BJPYF in 1991. Tomar was twice elected as member of Madhya Pradesh Assembly between 1998 and 2008. He served as Cabinet Minister in the state government between 2003-07 and was later tasked to head the state party unit in November 2006.
Chhattisgarh
Vishnu Deo Sai, face of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, is the lone representative from the state to be sworn in as Minister of State in the Narendra Modi government. He has become MoS Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment.
Jharkhand
Two-time MP Sudarshan Bhagat is the lone face from Jharkhand in the Narendra Modi government. He has become Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
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