Modi Cabinet 3.0: JDU's Lalan Singh gets Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Fisheries

Modi Cabinet 3.0: Rajeev Ranjan aka Lalan Singh of the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) has got the Ministry of Panchayati Raj; and the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying. 

BJP's Giriraj Singh handled the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, and Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the previous government. 

Ram Nath Thakur, another JDU leader, has been made the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Lalan Singh and Ramnath Thakur were among those who took oath on Sunday along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Lalan Singh has previously served as JD(U) president and a minister in the Bihar government, but this will be his first stint as a minister in the Union cabinet. An upper caste Bhumihar leader, Singh has previously fought elections from  Begusarai between 2004 and 2009. 

Later, he shifted to Munger in 2014 and continues to represent the constituency in the Lok Sabha to date. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Singh won from the constituency by securing more than 5.50 lakh votes and a vote share of 48.30 per cent. 

Ram Nath Thakur is the son of Bharat Ratna and former Bihar CM late Karpoori Thakur. He was a member of Bihar Legislative Council and became the Minister of Sugarcane Industries in Lalu Prasad Yadav's first cabinet. 

From November 2005 to November 2010, he was the Minister of Revenue and Land Reforms, Law, Information and Public Relations in the second Nitish Kumar ministry. He has been a parliamentarian since 2014. Thakur did not contest the Lok Sabha election and has entered the Cabinet via the Rajya Sabha route.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the JD(U) and the BJP got 12 seats each. The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), led by Chirag Paswan, secured 5 seats. The Rashtriya Janata Dal won 4 seats whereas the Congress won 3 seats. The CPI (ML)(L), HAMS, and an Independent candidate won on 1 seat each. 

Apart from Lalan Singh and Ram Nath Thakur, BJP's Giriraj Singh, Nityanand Rai, LJP (RVP)'s Chirag Paswan, and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi were inducted into the Modi Cabinet 3.0 from Bihar.