Parshottam Rupala is Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat
Parshottam Rupala, who had been serving as Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare, has now been elevated to the cabinet minister rank and entrusted with the charge of the Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying portfolios.
Mr Rupala is a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat and has earlier served as a minister in the state government.
Mr Rupala succeeds Giriraj Singh, who has been given the charge of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj portfolios.
Soon after taking the oath, Mr Rupala took to Twitter to express his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda for giving him the opportunity to serve the country as a minister.
Mr Rupala is among six Ministers of States who have been promoted to the cabinet in today's reshuffle. The others are Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, G Kishan Reddy, Mansukh Mandaviya and Anurag Thakur.
With 36 new ministers joining the Narendra Modi government following the reshuffle, the strength of the cabinet is now 77.