The new-look Team Manmohan

M K Azhagiri 59,DMK

The elder son of DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi,once a rank outsider in politics,has risen in stature in his party in the past couple of years. Based in Madurai,he has now been given charge of party affairs in the southern districts. Earlier,he did not have any formal responsibility nor did he come to the

forefront. In fact,party members were directed not to have any connections with him when he ensured the defeat of a number of party candidates in 2001 Assembly and local body elections. But after three by-elections in and around Madurai region since 2006 — all won by DMK and allies — and the recent developments in the ruling family have led to his emergence. First came the post of DMK organising secretary for south districts,a powerful post with 10 Lok Sabha and 60 Assembly constituencies under his control. This election,the DMK and allies just lost one seat from the region,increasing the demand in the party to reward him with a cabinet post in Delhi.

S Jagathrakshakan 61,DMK

A prominent educationalist and member of the influential Vanniyar community,Jagathrakshakan,inducted as an MoS,made his electoral debut under MGR’s AIADMK in 1980 and entered the Lok Sabha five years later. After MGR’s death,he stayed away from active politics,only to return in 1999 as a candidate of MGR Kazhagam,a splinter group of which he was the general secretary. He contested under the DMK symbol and found himself in a host of House committees till his term ended in 2004. It was his opposition to S Ramadoss and his party PMK that made Jagathrakshakan closer to the DMK leadership in the recent past. In the run-up to the elections,he merged his outfit with the DMK and was rewarded with a ticket from Arakkonam constituency.

D Napoleon 46,DMK

When DMK was looking for a replacement for A Raja from the Perambalur seat after he moved to Nilgiris (reserved) constituency,actor D Napoleon was not among the frontrunners. But he made it to the list and also won his first Lok Sabha election. Though a first-time MP,Napoleon is not new to politics. Before he became an actor and adopted the screen name,Kumaresan was working as a personal assistant to his uncle,K N Nehru,a DMK leader who is the present Transport Minister. In 2001,he was made the DMK candidate for Villivakkam Assembly seat,one of the biggest constituencies in Asia which he won. But in 2006,he lost from Mylapore. In this election,like his first Assembly polls,his uncle’s help came in handy as the actor secured Perambalur. He has been inducted as an MoS.

S Gandhiselvan 46,DMK

This loyalist of DMK chief Karunanidhi’s younger son M K Stalin was a surprise candidate this time,just like his unexpected victory from Namakkal. But it was not just the loyalty factor that made him an MoS. It is also about some hard work. Even as community outfits like the PMK were trounced in this election,it also saw the birth and rise to significance of others,most importantly the Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam. The nascent outfit was launched by Gounders,an influential community in the western belt of Tamil Nadu that has 12 Lok Sabha constituencies,only a fortnight before election. Gandhiselvan,a Gounder himself,was the only successful DMK contestant in the region,mostly due to the support he enjoyed from the community members.

karnataka

Mallikarjun Kharge 67,cong

The burly Kharge is a Dalit leader who has never lost a major election in his life. A nine-time member of the Karnataka Assembly from the impoverished Gulbarga district,Kharge contested his first Parliament election this time to register his 10th straight victory. His elevation to national politics — as a cabinet minister — is being seen as an effort to bring in new leadership for the Congress in Karnataka. Kharge is considered a competent leader with a clean public image and well versed in the dynamics of politics,legislation and administration.

west bengal

Dinesh Trivedi 59,trinamool cong

Winning from Barrackpore,traditionally a CPI(M) stronghold,with a margin of 55,861 votes,Trivedi is a trained commercial pilot and has an MBA from Texas University. A two-time Rajya Sabha member,he has also served as the general secretary of the Trinamool Congress. He is also the chairman of the Indo-European Union Parliamentary Forum (IEUPF) and is said to have close connections with top national leaders in New Delhi. To be inducted as MoS.

Choudhury M Jatua 71,trinamool cong

The retired IPS officer,who was fielded from Mathurapur constituency,won by the thumping margin of 1,25,892 votes. The former MLA,and now set to take on as an MoS,has served as a police superintendent in restive Bankura,and with that,he brings into the Trinamool table plenty of administrative experience in sensitive areas. Before entering the Lok Sabha elections,Jatua had step down as the head of the South 24-Parganas zilla parishad.

Sisir Adhikary 72,Trinamool Cong

The seasoned grass-root level politician won from Contai by 1,26,309 votes,while his son Suvendu won from Tamluk constituency. Sisir has been Contai Municipality ‘s chairman for 26 years and after spending a decade as an MLA from South Contai,represented the state Legislative Assembly from Egrain,Contai. Now,he is in for a stint as Mos.

Sisir and his son’s biggest achievement for Trinamool has been their key role in effecting the turnaround results in the East Midnapore panchayat polls.

Saugata Ray 61,Trinamool Cong

A veteran politician,he is a member of Mamata’s core team and won a keenly fought battle against CPM’s Amitava Nandy in Dum Dum. To be sworn in as MoS,he has been a professor at Maharaja Manindra Chandra College and Ashutosh College between 1972 and 2007. The prominent Congress leader became the Barrackpore MP back in 1977 and was later elected MLA from Alipore in 1987,1991 and 1996. He was a Central minister in 1979.

Sultan Ahmed 56,Trinamool Cong

The former Congress general secretary — now president of the All India Trinamool Minority Congress — is well known in Kolkata Maidan as the general secretary of the Mohammedan Sporting Club. Winning from Uluberia by a margin of 97,784 votes,he will be sworn in as MoS. The outspoken Ahmed was also a councillor with Kolkata Municipal Corporation,and elected twice as MLA from Entally in 1987 and 1996. An IFA governing body member and senior vice president of West Bengal Athletic Association,he is also general secretary of Islamia Hospital in Kolkata.

Mukul Roy 55,Trinamool Cong

This Rajya Sabha member is a party general secretary who has been a close associate of Mamata Banerjee for many years. He was also an active participant in the Nandigram and Singur agitations. Set to take over an MoS berth,Roy was elected as a Rajya Sabha member in 2006 and has served as the non-executive director of United Bank of India from 2002 to 2005.

kerala

K V Thomas 63,Cong

This is the fourth Lok Sabha term for the retired chemistry professor from Ernakulam in Kerala. He had won from the same constituency in 1984,1989 and 1992. Sitting legislator of the Ernakulam Assembly segment,Thomas bagged the ticket to contest in the Lok Sabha elections,overruling the protest from the Congress state leadership and the hierarchy of the Latin Catholic Church,to which he belongs. His direct access to Sonia Gandhi stood him in good stead when the party picked up the candidates and later the ministers. He was picked as an MoS. Thomas has also authored half-a-dozen books on his Kumbalangi village,a tourist destination near Ernakulam.

Shashi Tharoor 53,Cong

The former UN under-secretary for communications and renowned writer made his electoral debut from Thiruvananthapuram. The London-born Keralite proved his detractors wrong after he won from the state capital with a thumping majority of one lakh votes. When the Congress high command parachuted the novelist-cum-columnist in Thiruvanananthapuram as the candidate,the party greeted him with black flags. Muslim organisations too campaigned against Tharoor over his alleged pro-Israel stand and the media projected him as an outsider. However,his poll promise of “I would make your voice heard in Delhi” went gone down well with the electorate. He is an MoS now.

M Ramachandran 63,Cong

This is the second innings as MoS for the MP from Vatakara,a surprise winner from the so-called Red fortress. He was the MoS for Agriculture in the Narasimha Rao government in 1992. Ramachandran,known for his impeccable political track record,had represented CPI(M) stronghold Kannur in the Lok Sabha five times from 1984 to 1998. In 1999,he lost to CPI(M) young blood A P Abdullakutty. For a couple of years after that,Ramachandran languished in the Congress periphery in Kerala. In the latest organisational reshuffling,the law graduate staged a comeback as the vice-president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. Ramachandran joined politics as an activist of Kerala Students Union,the student wing of Congress and later headed the state unit of the Youth Congress. He had been a joint secretary of the AICC too.

maharashtra

Gurudas Kamat 55,Cong

The five-time MP from Mumbai was a last minute choice for the Mumbai North-West seat,having earlier represented Mumbai North-East,where the demographic profile was altered by delimitation. Kamat,who started off with the NSUI and Youth Congress,defied political pundits to win the polls against Malad MLA Gajanan Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena and Abu Asim Azmi of the Samajwadi Party,thanks to a vote split induced by the MNS. Kamat,who likes reading and playing badminton,table tennis and cricket,has completed his BCom,LLB and MBA,and is also the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee for five years. He is an MoS now.

Pratik Patil 36,Cong

The automobile engineer grandson of former CM Vasantdada Patil is being inducted as an MoS after winning a tough election from Sangli,where a section of the Congress,backed by powerful NCP and BJP leaders,had ganged up against him. Pratik,whose father Prakashbapu Patil passed away after his election in 2004,represented the constituency after winning a by-election. Pratik got the dissenters working for him finally and with some support from his uncle and state minister Madan Patil,he won the seat. Pratik’s induction in the cabinet is seen as a result of his proximity to Congress general secretary and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi.

meghalaya

Agatha K Sangma 28,NCP

Inducted as an MoS,the MP from Tura in Meghalaya is the youngest minister in this UPA government. The bespectacled daughter of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma may have started her political career with her father’s help but observers say her victory this time was due to her own hard work and effective campaigning. A law graduate who also holds a masters degree in environment from a UK university,Agatha was the youngest Lok Sabha member in the previous Lok Sabha. She won by nearly a lakh votes in the Tura by-election last year to retain the seat held by her father for almost 35 years.

Vincent Pala 41,Cong

A former PWD engineer and a businessman,he is the first ever MP from Meghalaya to be an MoS in his first term. A political novice before he jumped into the electoral fray,he surprised many when he got the ticket to contest from Shillong. The party decided to give him the party ticket as senior Congress leader P R Kyndiah had quit politics citing old age. He was only known as a businessman who had coal mines and was said to be among the richest in Meghalaya. But he hit the roads with his innovative campaigning,using technology and even glow signs. It worked as he won by a margin of more than a lakh votes.

gujarat

Bharatsinh Solanki 56,Cong

The son of former chief minister and Union minister Madhavsinh Solanki,Bharatsinh has made it as an MoS during his second consecutive stint in the Lok Sabha. He made his way up in the state party unit through the Youth Congress and was elected as MLA three consecutive times from the family bastion of Borsad. This time,he won back the Anand Lok Sabha constituency,which his maternal grandfather had lost to the BJP in 2004. He is one of the few Congressmen in the state who could retain his Assembly constituency in 2002 polls in central Gujarat,which otherwise were all won by BJP in the riots’ aftermath.

Tushar Chaudhary 44,cong

A doctor by profession,the son of former chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhary is the tribal face of the Congress in south Gujarat. A second time MP,Chaudhary has strong support in Bardoli. He plunged into state politics in the 2002 Assembly polls and became an MP in 2004. Chaudhary is believed to have been accommodated in lieu of Naran Rathwa — a former MoS,also a tribal from Vadodara,who lost the elections.

uttar pradesh

Pradeep Kumar Jain 47,Cong

Elected from Jhansi,Jain is a first-time MP. His name came as a surprise to many in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. Before becoming MP,he was the sitting MLA from Jhansi. Sources in the UPCC say that Jain is regarded as a diligent worker,who has worked hard to revive the party in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. Since Bundelkhand region is said to be close to Rahul’s heart and Jain is regarded as one of the younger lot in UPCC,sources said Jain fits in Rahul’s vision for 2012 Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. A senior leader in the UPCC said his name as an MoS comes as a surprise but considering that he comes from Bundelkhand explains it all as it will certainly give a boost to the party in the region.

r p n singh 45,cong

Regarded as another young face from Uttar Pradesh,Kunwar Ranjit Pratap Narayan Singh has worked his way up in the party. In the early 90s,he was the state Youth Congress president. This is the first time he became an MP,from Khushinagar,and has been inducted as an MoS. He is a three-time MLA from Padrauna Assembly constituency and comes from a royal family. His father C P N Singh was a senior Congress leader and a minister during the regime of Indira Gandhi. Many feel that this factor apart from the youth angle might have worked in his favour for being elected as one of the five people to get a central ministry from Uttar Pradesh. Singh also represents the influential Kurmi population in Uttar Pradesh.

punjab

Preneet Kaur 65,Cong

Better known as Maharani in Patiala,the wife of former chief minister Amarinder Singh registered her third consecutive win in the Lok Sabha elections from Patiala this time. Daughter of a former chief secretary of Punjab,Preneet studied at St Bede’s College in Shimla. A trained teacher,she has been actively involved with various Red Cross activities. Her other interests include sports — golf,polo and horse riding. Before being inducted as an MoS,she has had stints as a member on parliamentary committees for food,supplies and public distribution,agriculture and empowerment of women. In 2004,when Preneet won her second election,she was the only Congress candidate in the state to have retained her seat.

orissa

Srikant Jena 59,Cong

A student leader and an active participant in Jai Prakash Narayan’s movement against Emergency,Jena has come to be known as a party hopper. Though he started his career on anti-Congress plank and was jailed for 19 months under MISA during the Emergency,he switched to Congress on the eve of 1999 Lok Sabha elections. A cabinet minister in the H D Deve Gowda government in 1996,Jena has defied pundits who had written him off. Once known as a ‘giant killer’ for defeating former chief minister J B Patnaik and his wife Jayanti Patnaik consecutively,Jena was catapulted to national politics by Biju Patnaik. In 2009,he became the lone Congressman to defy the Naveen Patnaik surge in coastal Orissa as he was elected from Balasore constituency.

Bureau reports