Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is new Union Agriculture Minister

New Delhi: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who took oath as Union Cabinet Minister on Sunday at the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, is the new Union Agriculture Minister and Rural Development Minister in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.

Chouhan has been allocated Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Rural Development in the distribution of portfolios announced on Monday.

The two ministries have a grassroots imprint.

Narendra Singh Tomar, who was Agriculture Minister in the previous NDA government had resigned in December last year coinciding with the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

Following Tomar's resignation, the charge of the ministry was given to the then Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda.

Chouhan has vast administrative experience and was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh from 2005 till the 2023 state assembly elections, except for 15 months when the Congress came to power after the 2018 assembly polls.

Chouhan was elected to Lok Sabha from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. He is a six-time MP.

The distribution of portfolios was announced a day after the swearing-in of the NDA government, which scored a hat-trick victory in Lok Sabha polls. The portfolios were allocated on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.