Hours after shifting Kiren Rijiju from the law ministry, the Union government on Thursday moved Minister of State Prof Satya Pal Baghel to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This was necessitated after Arjun Ram Meghwal was made the Minister of State with Independent charge of the Ministry of Law and Justice.
According to the convention, a ministry headed by a Minister of State with independent charge does not have a deputy.
A Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said President Droupadi Murmu, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been pleased to direct that “Prof S P Singh Baghel, Minister of State be assigned as Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in place of Minister of State in the Ministry of Law and Justice.”
Who is Satya Pal Baghel?
A former police officer, Baghel was part of the security team of the Samajwadi Party founder late Mulayam Singh Yadav when he was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. His foray into politics began when Mulayam had appointed him as the president of Mulayam Singh Youth Brigade, one of the SP’s frontal organisations.
Baghel first contested from the Jalesar seat in the 1998 Lok Sabha election and won. He was re-elected in 1994 and 2004 on SP tickets.
After the seat was scrapped following delimitation exercise in 2008 and merged with Firozabad, SP declined Baghel a ticket, and instead fielded Akhilesh Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, from the Firozabad seat for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Baghel then switched to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but lost to Akhilesh.
In 2010, Baghel was elected to the Rajya Sabha with the BSP chief Mayawati also appointing him its national general secretary.
Four years later, when BJP then PM candidate Narendra Modi held a rally in Lucknow, Baghel joined the saffon camp, and he was fielded from Firozabad. He had lost to SP candidate Akshay Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav.
Baghel became the national president of BJP’s OBC Morcha in 2015, and in 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, he won the Scheduled Caste (SC)-reserved Tundla seat in Firozabad district, and became the Minister for Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Minor Irrigation and Underground Water in the Yogi government. In 2021, he was inducted into PM’s minstry.
