Modi 3.0 Cabinet: JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy becomes steel minister

New Delhi: JD(S) leader and son of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda H D Kumaraswamy has been allotted the portfolio of Union Minister for Steel in the Modi 3.0 government.

Kumaraswamy will succeed Jyotiraditya M Scindia, who has been allocated the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region in the new government.

He takes charge of the ministry at a time when the domestic industry is facing the crucial issue of rising steel imports from countries like China, and surging raw material prices.

The JD(S) leader has also been given the charge of Minister of Heavy Industries.

Two-time chief minister of Karnataka and five-time JD(S) MLA contested from Mandya Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka and won by 2,84,620 votes, defeating Venkataramane Gowda (Star Chandru) of the Congress in the 18th general elections.

He secured 851881 votes, while Venkataramane Gowda got 5,67,261 votes.

Son of JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy is the the state president of JD(S). He has managed to secure a cabinet berth by allying with the BJP, at a time when his party was fighting the "battle for survival".

The 64-year-old Vokkaliga leader had desired to become agriculture minister.

By winning the Mandya Lok Sabha seat, the former CM has not only managed to regain the JD(S)'s lost bastion, but also demonstrated that the party is still a force to be reckoned with in Karnataka, by allying with the BJP.

Kumaraswamy was elected to the assembly for the first time in 2004, when the JD(S) joined the coalition government led by Congress's N Dharam Singh after the polls threw up a hung house.

In 2006, he rebelled and walked out of the coalition with 42 MLAs, reportedly against the wish of his father, citing a threat to the party, and formed the government with the BJP, becoming the chief minister during his very first term as MLA.

Meanwhile, Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma, who won from the Narasapuram seat in Andhra Pradesh, has been allocated the portfolio of Minister of State for Steel and Heavy Industries.