Prakash Javadekar, the lone Minister of State in the Modi government to have been elevated to Cabinet rank, has been rewarded for his work in the Environment Ministry, especially his pro-active role in the climate change talks in Paris.
It has been a turnaround for Javadekar, who was earlier stripped of the charge of two key departments of Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs as a Minister of State.
He was included in the Council of Ministers even when he was not an MP and was given the charge of three key departments — Independent charge of Environment Ministry and Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs.
A former banker, Javadekar (65) was a member of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS.
During his earlier days, Javadekar organised a Satyagraha against Emergency rule and was also imprisoned for 16 months.
He was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council twice between 1990 and 2002 before being first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2008. He currently represents Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha.
Hailing from Pune, Javadekar, who is a commerce graduate, was one of the most visible faces of the BJP on television before the BJP government came to power.
He was the BJP spokesperson and the party’s in-charge for Andhra Pradesh at the time of his inclusion in the Council of Ministers.
He was also instrumental in striking a deal with Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP to bring it into the NDA-fold.
Javadekar had also played a role in unearthing the cash-for-vote scam.
He also worked with the Bank of Maharashtra for 10 years from 1971 to 1981. He was as a member of the Senate of Pune University for 12 years (1975-87) and has been a full-time party worker of the Bharatiya Janata Party since 1981.
He was National Secretary and General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, from 1984 to 1990 and State Secretary and Campaign Chief of the BJP in Maharashtra from 1989 to 1995.
He was also the BJP spokesman for Maharashtra and rose to become the party’s national spokesperson in 2005.