Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who has been appointed as the Union Home Minister, is expected to assume the charge of the Ministry tomorrow.
62-year-old Singh, who was elected from Lucknow Lok Sabha constituency, succeeds Sushilkumar Shinde in the crucial Ministry that handles the country’s internal security and the task of guarding the international border with Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
The immediate issues that the teacher-turned politician will have to deal with include tackling the Naxal violence, activities of terrorist outfits in the country’s hinterland, infiltration from Pakistan, illegal immigration from Bangladesh and strengthening intelligence gathering mechanism.
As Home Minister, the two-term BJP president will be part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Security, the country’s highest decision making body on security matters.
Singh is bringing with him a varied experience of handling crucial administrative assignments in his long political career, including that of being Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Union Minister of Transport and Agriculture in Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA Government.
It was under Singh that Vajpayee’s dream project, National Highway Development Programme, was launched. He was also Education Minister in the Kalyan Singh Government in Uttar Pradesh.
Singh, who taught physics at a college in Gorakhpur in his early career, has earned the reputation of being an able administrator as Union Minister and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.