Leaders not retained in Modi’s Cabinet vow to serve as BJP workers

New Delhi: Several BJP leaders who were not retained in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new council of ministers congratulated him for his third consecutive term at the helm and said they will continue to serve as party workers.

Anurag Thakur, who served as the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the previous term of the Modi government, said he would keep working as a BJP worker and contribute to fulfilling Modi’s resolve to make India a developed country.

In the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, Thakur was reelected to the Lower House of Parliament from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh.

“I am a party worker first. The people of Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh have elected me to the Lok Sabha for the fifth consecutive time. Being elected to the Lok Sabha for the fifth time is itself a great honour,” he said.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who was the Minister of State for Information Technology, Electronics, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Jal Shakti in the last Modi government, said in a post on X that his 18-year-long stint in public service has come to an end.

He deleted this post and wrote another clarifying that he meant to say that his 18-year-long stint as an MP and three years as a Minister of State has come to an end. Chandrasekhar contested the Lok Sabha elections from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram seat but lost to Congress’ Shashi Tharoor. Smriti Irani, who served as a Union minister in the last two terms of the Modi government, ost to Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi seat.