After 2 Rajya Sabha stints, Mandaviya to make Lok Sabha election debut

New Delhi, Mar 2 (PTI) Actively associated with the BJP since his youth, Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya will be fighting the Lok Sabha elections for the first time after being a Rajya Sabha member for two terms.

He has been fielded from Porbandar in Gujarat, according to the BJP’s first list of candidates released on Saturday.

Known as “Green MP” for his penchant for cycling to Parliament, Mandaviya, 51, has been steadily rising through the party ranks. He currently heads the ministries of health and chemicals and fertilizers.

He was entrusted with the most important health portfolio in the middle of 2021 when the nation was battling the COVID-19 crisis. He replaced Harsh Vardhan, who was dropped from the Council of Ministers as part of a reshuffle.

Simultaneously, Mandaviya was given the charge of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. He replaced D V Sadananda Gowda, who was dropped from the Council of Ministers in the cabinet reshuffle.

He was holding the independent charge of the Shipping Ministry and was MoS for the Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry then.

Born in a farmer’s family in a small village Hanol in Palitana taluka of Bhavnagar district in Gujarat, Mandaviya has been actively involved in politics since his youth when he joined Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He soon became a state executive committee member of the ABVP’s Gujarat unit.

Mandaviya had become the youngest member of the Gujarat legislative assembly in 2002. He was appointed as the secretary of BJP Gujarat in 2013 and the general secretary the next year.

Later, in 2014, he was appointed as the Gujarat state in-charge of BJP’s high-tech and mega membership drive campaign which saw over 1 crore people joining the saffron party in the state.

Mandaviya got his first big break in administration when the then chief minister Narendra Modi appointed him as chairman of Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Limited.

A veterinary doctor, Mandaviya is a political science postgraduate from Bhavnagar University. He also holds a doctorate Doctorate of Philosophy degree from the Gujarat Institute of Development and Research, Ahmedabad.

Mandaviya has been an important face in the Narendra Modi government at the Centre since 2016. He was first inducted in the cabinet as MoS for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Chemicals and Fertilisers on July 5, 2016.

On May 30, 2019, he was again sworn in as MoS for Chemicals and Fertilisers with an independent charge of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

He was first elected in Rajya Sabha in 2012 and re-elected in 2018.

As the health minister, he oversaw the implementation of the world’s largest Covid vaccination programme in the country, which led to over 220 crore doses being administered.

Mandaviya’s team is also instrumental in rolling out the flagship Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission to make health services accessible.

One of the major highlights during his tenure has been the launch of Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyan aimed at eliminating the disease five years ahead of the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal) target of 2030.

The program provides community support under which tuberculosis patients are adopted and cared for by an individual, elected representatives or institutions.

During the severe second wave of Covid-19, Mandaviya as Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers played a major role in ramping up the supply of oxygen and medicines.

Under his leadership the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers set up over 10,600 Jan Aushadhi stores which provide over 850 kinds of medicines at affordable rates under the Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojana.

During his tenure, the ministry in 2022 launched an ambitious scheme of converting over 3.3 lakh retail shops of fertilisers into Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras.