Jitendra Singh.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi, : Senior BJP leader Jitendra Singh on Monday retained the all-powerful Prime Minister's Office (PMO) as the Union minister of state for the third time in a row.
He is also back in the Ministry of Earth Sciences as Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), a portfolio held by him for some time in the last government. The ministry's charge was assigned to Kiren Rijiju in May last year.
President Droupadi Murmu on Monday allocated portfolios to newly inducted ministers in the Narendra Modi-led government.
Singh will be Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS in PMO as well as in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Space, according to a communique issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in charge of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, it said.
Singh served as the MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Space until the dissolution of the 17th Lok Sabha recently. The doctor-turned-politician was also the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Born in Jammu, 67-year-old Singh was inducted as the MoS in the PMO in 2014 as a first-time Lok Sabha member from the Udhampur constituency in Jammu and Kashmir. He was part of the Union Council of Ministers in Modi's first and second term as prime minister.
He won the Udhampur Lok Sabha seat for the third time, defeating Congress candidate Choudhary Lal Singh by a margin of 1.24 lakh votes.
Jitendra Singh wears many hats — a medical practitioner, author, professor and newspaper columnist. He has a flair for writing and has authored at least six books and chapters in about a dozen textbooks for postgraduate courses in medicine.