Ashwini Kumar Choubey helped in constructing 11,000 toilets for Dalit families in Bihar.
BJP veteran Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who was a health minister in the Bihar government, has become part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's
new cabinet today. A Lok Sabha lawmaker from Bihar's Buxar, he has been inducted as Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Mr Choubey, 64, was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly for five consecutive terms and has held important portfolios including Health, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering in Bihar. BJP's prominent Brahmin face from the state, he is known for the slogan, "
Ghar-ghar me ho shouchalaya ka nirman, tabhi hoga ladli bitiya ka kanyadaan". He also helped in constructing 11,000 toilets for Mahadalit families.
He is member of the Parliamentary Committee on Estimates and Standing Committee on Energy as well as the Central Silk Board.
He started his journey in politics as a student union leader in Patna University. He was a full-time member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad from 1974 to 1987. He graduated in Zoology from Patna University. He has written, "Kedarnath Trasadi" based on the 2013 deluge in Uttarakhand. Mr Choubey along with his family had escaped the Kedarnath floods.
A social worker and agriculturist, he actively participated in the JP movement in the 1970s. He was taken into custody during the Emergency under Maintenance of Internal Security Act.
In June 2013, he was sacked along with 10 other BJP ministers after the JD(U) severed ties with BJP.
(With inputs from PTI)