Manohar Lal Khattar and Shivraj Singh Chauhan : Two Ex-CM with two Heavyweight Portfolios

As the hype and hysteria around the speculations of ministry allocations settled down, two big new names inducted in the cabinet of Modi 3.0, piqued curiosity and grabbed the attention. Manohar Lal Khattar, who served as Chief Minister of Haryana for two terms from 2014 -2024, and Shivraj Singh Chauhan who served as Madhya Pradesh CM from November 2005 to December 2023, except for the brief break between December 2018 to March 2020, were sworn in as the new ministers in Modi’s cabinet on Sunday evening. 

A day after the ceremony, the much anticipated names with the portfolios were cleared and Khattar, who won the Karnal Lok Sabha seat, defeating Congress candidate Divyanshu Budhiraja has been given dual charge of the high-profile Power and Housing ministries, while the other BJP veteran who returned to contest from the Vidisha seat which he held for five consecutive elections between 1991 and 2004, has been given the charge of the Agriculture Minister.

For Shivraj Singh Chauhan, the allocation of the Agriculture ministry seems apt, as he is credited for turning Madhya Pradesh, earlier counted in the BIMARU states, into an agriculture powerhouse. Under Shivraj’s long tenure, Madhya Pradesh became the second largest producer of wheat and leading producer of Soyabean, chana, garlic, and tomato. Under his leadership MP also became the second largest producer of Onions after the neighbouring Maharashtra, while MP also ranked second in maize and mustard. Notably, the agriculture growth of MP in the last decade peaked around 6.5 percent leaving behind India’s average of 3.7 percent. 

Notably, the agriculture ministry had heavyweights like Jagjivan Ram, Ch. Devilal, Rao Birender Singh at the helm. Given his stakes in the onion market of Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar also served as the agriculture minister during the UPA government rule. And if we talk about the two terms of the Modi government, ministers like Radha Mohan Singh, Arjun Munda, and Narendra Tomar who had a relatively low profile compared to Shivraj Singh Chauhan served as the agriculture ministers. 

Manohar Lal Khattar’s appointment as the new power minister of India has also raised hope for new developments in the power sector, given that Manohar Lal’s transforming work in the power sector in Haryana made him the popular face of development especially in the backward regions of Haryana. The electricity problem which continuously plagued the villages of Haryana for decades was solved by Khattar during his ten years of rule in the state.  Importantly, Khattar assumes the power ministry at a juncture when the power sector in India is booming.

Moody's, a worldwide rating agency, has voiced great confidence in the electricity sector's growth trajectory in India. According to Moody's, power demand in India is expected to increase by 5 to 6 percent per year over the next six to seven years due to investments in electrical transmission and renewable energy. According to the rating agency, India has to install about 44 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity in order to reach its aim of 500 GW by 2030, underscoring the significance of this industry. Over the following seven years, an investment of $190 billion to $215 billion will be needed to reach this goal.  

Known as the quintessential RSS man, Khattar’s long experience in public life and government functioning would definitely help the power ministry to make strides. Talking about Haryana’s representation in the Union government, after many years, a Haryanvi got such a powerful portfolio which is also a matter of immense happiness for the people of the state. Nonetheless, India awaits to see, how the two ex-CM who transformed their individual states, fill in the big shoes and lead their respective ministries in Modi 3.0.