Buldhana MP Prataprao Jadhav, who has been elected from the Buldhana Lok Sabha constituency for the fourth consecutive time, was sworn in as Minister of State (MoS) on Sunday evening. Additionally, Raksha Khadse, who won from the Raver Lok Sabha constituency, which includes one Assembly constituency from Buldhana district, also took the oath as MoS. This brings the number of Ministers of State from Buldhana district to two.

MP Prataprao Jadhav: Prataprao Jadhav, a four-time MP from the Buldhana Lok Sabha seat and a three-time MLA, began his political career as a trader in the Mehkar Agricultural Produce Market Committee in 1988. He first became an MLA from Mehkar Assembly in 1995 and served as the Minister of State for Sports and Irrigation. He won the Mehkar Assembly elections again in 1999 and 2004. In 2009, after Mehkar Assembly Constituency and Buldhana Lok Sabha Constituency were reserved for Scheduled Castes, Jadhav won the Lok Sabha elections from Buldhana and continued to win in 2014, 2019, and 2024. Between 2019 and 2024, he was the Centre’s Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj and Communications, Electronics & Information Technology. Before Jadhav, only two other MPs from Buldhana served as Ministers of State: Mukul Wasnik (1984-1989, Sports and Youth Welfare) and Anandrao Adsul (Union Minister of State for Finance in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government).

MP Raksha Khadse: Raksha Khadse, BJP MP from the Raver Lok Sabha constituency, including the Malkapur Assembly constituency from Buldhana district, was also pledged as Minister of State. The daughter-in-law of senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who is now with the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), was given her candidacy by the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Maharashtra. Khadse won her seat from Raver and was included in the Modi 3.0 Government due to her commendable reputation. The Buldhana Lok Sabha constituency comprises seven Assembly constituencies: Buldhana, Chikhli, Sindkhed Raja, Mehkar, Khamgaon, and Jalgaon Jamod, with the Malkapur Assembly constituency under the Raver Lok Sabha constituency.

This means Buldhana district now has two Ministers of State in the new government.