NEW DELHI: Chandni Chowk MP Harsh Vardhan is the sole representative from Delhi, who was sworn in as a minister in PM Narendra Modi’s new cabinet on Thursday. One of the prominent leaders of Delhi, Vardhan was holding the charge of science and technology in previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he defeated Congress heavyweight and two-time MP Kapil Sibal on the same seat.
Several BJP leaders in Delhi were expecting that Manoj Tiwari, local unit chief, and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, also a senior lawyer, might get ministerial berth. “Speculations were rife that Tiwari or Lekhi may be inducted in the new cabinet. Possibly, Vardhan’s experience and his seniority worked for him.
Tiwari may have been left out in view of the assembly elections in the city scheduled early next year. Under his leadership, the party has consistently been doing well,” said a senior Delhi BJP leader. The BJP retained all seven Lok Sabha seats and five of them — Tiwari, Lekhi, Parvesh Verma (west Delhi), Ramesh Bidhuri (south Delhi) and Vardhan — won the elections second time in a row.
Man of the moment
An ENT specialist, Harsh Vardhan is a five-time MLA from Krishna Nagar Assembly seat in east Delhi. During his tenure as the Health Minister of Delhi from 1993-1998, he also undertook the polio prevention programme which was replicated at the national level. He was awarded the Director-General’s Polio Eradication Champion Award Commendation Medal by the WHO in 1998. In 2017, he was given the additional charge of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change