Anurag Thakur To Smriti Irani: 10 Key Ministers From Modi 2.0 Left Out Of BJP-Led NDA Cabinet In 2024

Among others, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur, and Narayan Rane will not be part of the 18th Lok Sabha cabinet.

PM Modi Swearing-In Ceremony: As BJP leader Narendra Modi took the oath as Prime Minister for the third time on Sunday, many new names are going to uphold cabinet berths in Modi 3.0. However, there are some popular faces that have been kept out of the Union Ministers' list. Check out below the political heavyweights who have not made it to the current cabinet.

Three Key Faces Missing In Modi 3.0

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur, and Narayan Rane will not be part of the cabinet in the 18th Lok Sabha. 

Smriti Irani contested the Lok Sabha election from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi, but she faced defeat by over 1.6 lakh votes to Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma. Earlier, she had served as the Women and Child Development Minister during the Modi government's second term. Five years prior, she had won against Congress's Rahul Gandhi. 

On the other hand, Anurag Thakur secured a victory in the general election from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, having previously managed sports, information, and broadcasting portfolios. He has not been included in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's latest Union Cabinet. 

Narayan Rane served as the Minister of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises during Modi's second term. He won the Lok Sabha election, representing Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg in Maharashtra. 

Others Who Missed Out

Some of the other prominent names from Modi 2.0 missing from Modi 3.0 cabinet includes Ajay Bhatt (won the election), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (lost the election), Meenakshi Lekhi (did not contest),  General VK Singh (Retd) (did not contest), Arjun Munda (lost the election),  Rajeev Chandrasekhar (lost the election),  Nisith Pramanik (lost the election), among others.

The Modi 3.0 cabinet includes several prominent BJP leaders such as Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, S. Jaishankar, Nitin Gadkari, Mansukh Mandaviya, Piyush Goyal, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupendra Yadav, Prahlad Joshi, Kiren Rijiju, C.R. Paatil, L. Murugan, Hardeep Puri, M.L. Khattar, Shivraj Chouhan, Gajendra Shekhawat, Suresh Gopi, and Jitin Prasada.