Nitin Gadkari: Longest serving transport minister gets another stint

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari, popularly referred as the 'Highway Man of India', is known to be a go-getter in whatever work he undertakes.

The 67-year-old leader from Nagpur in Maharashtra has been the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways as he held the portfolio in the last two governments led by Narendra Modi.

Gadkari is credited with the construction of more than 90,000 km of national highways and 30,000 km of new roads in the country in the last 10 years.

In an interview to PTI earlier this year, the senior BJP leader said he wants to help people even in the smallest possible way and keep working for them to bring about a positive change in their lives.

The former BJP president, closely associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has won three consecutive times from the Lok Sabha seat of Nagpur, which houses the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters.

On Sunday, he was inducted into the National Democratic Alliance government as a cabinet minister.

Gadkari's foray into national politics came when he was appointed president of the BJP in 2009.

Since 2014, when Gadkari made his debut in the Lok Sabha polls from Nagpur and became a minister at the Centre, he has handled several portfolios like the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

Gadkari has kept a low profile politically since becoming a minister and focused on his ministries.

He served as a member of the Maharashtra legislative council from the Nagpur Graduates' constituency from 1989 to 2014. He became a state minister for the first time in 1995 and held charge of the Public Works Department (PWD).

During the period, he worked for getting all weather roads constructed in the state and containing the problem of malnutrition in the Melghat area of Vidarbha region.

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway and 54 flyovers in the Maharashtra capital were constructed during his tenure as a state minister.

The Bandra-Worli Sea Link was also conceived during Gadkari's tenure as the PWD minister.

The greenfield expressway projects under the Bharatmala Pariyojana phase 1 in the country are currently under various phases of completion.