Pralhad Joshi takes charge of Union Food and Consumer Affairs ministry

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader from Karnataka Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday took charge of the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and said his priority would be to implement the 100-day agenda of the government and further strengthen the food security system.

This ministry was earlier under senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal.

"I have taken charge today of the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs. I am thankful to the Prime Minister who has given me the responsibility of this important department which is linked to the common man, where we provide free foodgrains to 80 crore people," Joshi told reporters after assuming the charge.

Goyal was also present when Joshi assumed the charge.

Joshi said the ministry has a mandate to implement the world's largest food security scheme.

The new minister said his priority would be to implement the 100-day programme which has already been identified by his predecessor.

He said the system is already in place for procurement and distribution of foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and his efforts would be to strengthen it.

A die-hard RSS loyalist and long-time BJP worker Pralhad Joshi has also been given the portfolio of New & Renewable Energy Minister.

Joshi is a five-time member of Parliament from the saffron party's bastion of Dharwad in Karnataka.

He held portfolios of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs in the previous Cabinet.

As Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the Modi 2.0 government, he played a key role in the functioning of both the Houses and in the passing of many crucial bills of national importance during the 17th Lok Sabha.

Joshi, who had also served as BJP Karnataka president, came to the limelight as 'Rastradwaja Horata Samiti Sanchalak', when the party organised a movement to hoist the tricolour at Idgah Maidan in Hubballi that had created a huge law and order situation, and also for the "Save Kashmir Movement" in the early 1990s.

He won the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 97,324 votes, defeating Congress' Vinod Assoti in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.