Kiren Rijiju appointed India's new Sports Minister

Kiren Rijiju today has been appointed as the new Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in place of Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who has not taken oath so far. The 47-year-old Rijiju was till now serving as the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs of India and takes over from Athens Olympic silver medalist Colonel Rathore in the capacity of Minister of State (Independent Charge). .

Rijiju, who became an Union Minister in 2014, won from Arunachal West seat for the second consecutive time in 2019 Lok Sabha elections - defeating Congress candidate and former chief minister Nabam Tuki with a huge margin of 1,67,132 votes. He graduated in law from the University of Delhi. He is one of the most iconic political leaders from Arunachal Pradesh and Northeast India in recent times.

Kiren is an instrumental figure in promoting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in his state. Not only in Arunachal Pradesh, but he has emerged as a popular face from the North-Eastern region and was even in charge of Nagaland in 2018, the time when BJP and an ally formed the government over there. Rijiju also served as a member of Khadi and Village Industries Commission from 2000 to 2005 at a young age of 29. The newly appointed sports minister is an alumnus of Hansraj College in Delhi, followed it up with a law degree from the University of Delhi. He first contested in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from the Arunachal West constituency. He lost during the 2009 polls by a tiny margin of 1314 votes. Kiren came back stronger five years later and regained his seat by defeating Congress candidate Takam Sanjoy. Also Read: Without Col. Rathore at the helm of Sports Ministry, the show must go on