Sanwar Lal Jat -- Vasundhara Raje confidant and a local stalwart

JAIPUR: Sanwar Lal Jat, who was inducted today in Narendra Modi Ministry, is a close confidant of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and had made his Lok Sabha debut this year by defeating state Congress chief Sachin Pilot in Ajmer.

The 59-year-old professor-turned politician has been a five-time MLA and till recently held the Water Resources portfolio in Rajasthan government.

During Raje's previous term between 2003-2008, he held portfolios of irrigation and Indira Gandhi Nahar Pariyojana among others. He was also part of the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Ministry in 1993.

He was born in Bhinai block of Ajmer district in January 1955 and won from Bhinai assembly seat in 1990. He retained the seat in 1993, 1998 and 2003. Though he lost the polls in 2008, he made a comeback in December last year when he won from Nasirabad constituency.

Though he was elected to Parliament, Raje kept him in her ministry and he would regularly appear in the state Assembly and replied to questions.

Till last month's cabinet expansion of Raje government, Jat remained a fullfledged minister though he had resigned from the Assembly, drawing objection from the Congress.

He did M.Com. and Ph.D. before joining politics and was a commerce professor in University of Rajasthan.

He is currently Member, Standing Committee on Water Resources.

He is married to Narbada and they have two sons and a daughter.

While leaving for Delhi yesterday, Jat told reporters, "I shall work with the PM in the same manner I worked (as a minister) with Chief Minister Raje in Rajasthan".