Rajnath Singh took oath as Union cabinet minister on Sunday evening at the swearing in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan.Rajnath Singh won the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat with a margin of 1,35,159 votes, defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Ravidas Mehrotra.A strategist and a quintessential political leader with grassroots connect, Rajnath Singh is credited with expanding the BJP’s organisational network in the Hindi heartland state of Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s and the subsequent decades.Hailing from the Chandauli district of the politically crucial state, Singh is known as a moderate face and is widely respected by leaders cutting across party lines.The 72-year-old Singh, whose illustrious political career spanned over five decades, on Sunday took oath as a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet.Long seen as a protege of BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Singh started his political career as a student activist with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and went on to become the BJP national president in 2005.The senior BJP leader was elected for another term as the party president in January 2013.