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Updated: May 31, 2019 14:22 IST

Former home minister Rajnath Singh was given the Defence Ministry in PM Modi’s new Cabinet.

Retaining his position as the senior-most minister, Rajnath Singh has shown that he remains a key political figure in the BJP, with his own autonomous political strength. Singh is a former UP CM, a former minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, and a former party president under whose watch the 2014 election was won.

Rajnath Singh became the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister from 2000 and after two years served as the Agriculture Minister in Vajpayee’s Cabinet between 2003 and 2004.

He was the President of the BJP before Amit Shah took charge in 2014.