Raksha Khadse, a threetime BJP MP from Raver, was appointedminister of state for sports on Monday. The 37-year-old is the daughter-in-law of Eknath Khadse, an NCP leader of the Sharad Pawar faction who recently decided to switch back to the BJP.
She won the 2024 Lok Sabha election by nearly three lakh votes, defeating her nearest rival Shriram Patil from the NCP (SP) faction. Her husband, Nikhil Khadse, died in 2013.
Mansukh Mandaviya, who served as the Union health minister at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, was appointed sports minister, replacing Anurag Thakur in Prime Minister Narendra Modis cabinet. The 52-year-old Mandaviya won the Porbandar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat by defeating his nearest Congress rival Lalit Vasoya by a margin of 3.83 lakh votes.
