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Dharmendra Pradhan

Dharmendra Pradhan is the Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel in the second term of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre. In the previous term of the governement, too, he had held the natural gas & petroleum portfolio, but additional had skill development & entrepreneurship as his second ministry. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March 2018 from Madhya Pradesh.

Pradhan was a member of Lok Sabha from 2004-2009 and represented the Deogarh constituency of Odisha. He was also a member of Assembly of Odisha (2000 - 2004) elected from Pallalhara constituency.
 
Pradhan was an active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and entered national politics in 2004. His father, Debendra Pradhan, was a minister in Vajpayee government and an MP from Deogarh constituency who left his seat in 2004 to pave the way for his son. Dharmendra Pradhan won the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 from the constituency.
 
In 2012, he was elected as the member of Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He was also the general secretary of the party in 2011, and also looked after the activities of the party in Jharkhand. He was also the organiser of party activities in Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Odisha.
 
Though his stint in national politics is relatively short, Pradhan has carved a crucial identity for himself. A close confidant of Amit Shah, he was also one of the chief architects for the victory of BJP in Bihar in the Lok Sabha election of 2014.

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