Shimla: A proud moment for Himachal Pradesh, Member of Parliament (Hamirpur) Anurag Thakur was elevated to the position of Cabinet minister today and will hold a charge of Information and Broadcasting, Youth and Sports.
He will now succeed Prakash Javadekar who stepped down before the oath-taking ceremony.
Thakur has earlier been inducted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet as Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs in 2019 under Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Son of veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Anurag Thakur (46) succeeded his father after he was elected Member of Parliament in the 14th Lok Sabha from Hamirpur constituency in May 2008, and since then he has been re-elected thrice from the same seat in 2009, 2014 and 2019.
Himachal Pradesh has earlier seen the likes of Shanta Kumar, Virbhadra Singh, Anand Sharma and JP Nadda holding cabinet portfolio, while Sukh Ram Sharma has held independent charge of Union Minister of State for telecommunications. Chandresh Kumari had also been a cabinet minister during the UPA regime in 2012.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur congratulated Anurag Thakur on elevation as Union Cabinet Minister.
He expressed hope that the tenure of Anurag Singh Thakur as Union Cabinet Minister would be full of achievements and accomplishments. He said that the state of Himachal Pradesh would benefit immensely in the matter of development due to his elevation as Cabinet Minister.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for elevating Anurag Thakur as Cabinet Minister, he said that Himachal Pradesh was fortunate that despite being a small State, BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda also belongs to this state.
