Know your minister | Nitin Gadkari - Minister for Road Transport & Highways, MSME

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari (Image: Reuters)

Nitin Gadkari considered one of the best performers during the first term of Modi government for his expeditious project implementation, will continue to be the Minister for Road Transport & Highways. He has also been given charge of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

There was a time when it took almost three hours to drive from Delhi to Sonepat. That’s now in the past. You can now cover the distance in about an hour in a world-class, access controlled expressway, thanks largely to Gadkari. He was credited for smooth construction and operation of bridges, flyovers and expressways in the previous Cabinet.

He was also known to have played a significant role in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. From a measly 9 km a day in 2014, India is now building highways at a scorching 30 km a day. If all goes to plan, in about three years, we should be able to drive down from Delhi to Mumbai in 12 hours on a new highway project that Gadkari is overseeing from design to execution.

He became the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youngest National President in 2009. His stint as the Public Works Department (PWD) minister in Maharashtra between 1995 and 1999 is remembered for several path-breaking projects, including the iconic Mumbai-Pune Expressway. With Rs 5 crore equity, he earned the distinction of completing projects worth Rs 8,000 crore.

As Union Transport Minister Gadkari was piloting Rs 8 lakh crore worth of highway projects, including the ambitious Bharatmala, which is the Centre's flagship highway development programme and the second-largest highways project after the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP).

Gadkari, who won the recent general elections in the Nagpur seat by defeating his closest opponent, Congress candidate and BJP rebel Nana Patole by a margin of more than 2 lakh votes, also oversaw the signature Sagarmala Project to improve port connectivity and port modernisation.

Born into a Marathi family in Nagpur to Jairam and Bhanutai Gadkari on May 27, 1957, Gadkari worked for the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the student union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He completed his MCom and LLB from the University of Nagpur.

He is also known for his proximity to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat and was touted as a Prime Ministerial candidate in case the BJP failed to cobble a majority, a charge he vehemently denied.