The induction of Shiv Pratap Shukla, a Brahmin face in the BJP, is being seen as a well-calculated move to keep the upper caste in good humour.
Former Uttar Pradesh minister Shiv Pratap Shukla brings with him a rich organisational as well as ministerial experience to the Union council of ministers.
Shukla, 65, hails from Gorakhpur, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's citadel.
The induction of Shukla, who is a Brahmin face of the Bharatiya Janata Party, is being seen as a well-calculated move by the ruling BJP to reap dividends in the 2019 Lok Sabha election by keeping the upper caste in good humour.
Born in Khajni, Rudrapur, UP, a village near Gorakhpur district to a middle-class family, Shukla completed his graduation in law from the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University.
His political life started in the early 1970s as a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. In 1981, was elected as provincial secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
During the Emergency, he was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act and was in prison for 19 months from 1975 to 1977.
As a minister in UP, he initiated an 'education for all' scheme, worked to reform conditions for prisoners and various rural development schemes.
A member of the Rajya Sabha, he becomes a central minister for the first time.
He was appointed vice-president of the BJP in UP in February, 2012.
Shukla was elected a member of the Uttar Pradesh assembly in 1989 for the first time. He was re-elected in 1991, 1993 and 1996.
He first held a ministerial post in Kalyan Singh's government of 1991-1992, then became minister for jails in 1996-1998 under the BJP-Bahujan Samaj Party rule, a short-lived coalition government of Mayawati and Kalyan Singh, and was later appointed minister for rural development in 1998 in the Rajnath Singh-led BJP government.
IMAGES: TOP: Shiv Pratap Shukla. Kind courtesy: Shiv Pratap Shukla/Twitter; BOTTOM: From left: Shiv Pratap Shukla, Yogi Adityanath and Manoj Sinha. Kind courtesy: Manoj Sinha Shukla/Twitter
