Ravi Shankar Prasad, who emerged victorious against the Congress’ Shatrughan Sinha in a high-stakes battle for the Patna Sahib constituency, is making his Lok Sabha debut.
Prasad, who started out as a volunteer of the ABVP, the students’ wing of the RSS, played an active role in protests against Emergency.
He became a member of the national executive committee of the BJP in 1995 and was elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time in 2000.
Prasad has held Minister of State portfolios in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led government and was appointed the BJP’s national spokesperson in 2005.
As the Electronics and IT Minister in the previous Modi-led government, Prasad played a leading role in boosting the manufacturing of electronic products in India, with major players such as Samsung and Xiaomi widening their presence.
Under the Digital India initiative, he also focused on setting up Common Service Centres that helped people avail digital services from the government.
Prasad also served as Law Minister and handled the Triple Talaq issue.
Prasad is a key face of the party nationally and will be a vital cog in the wheels of the new Cabinet.