Sanwar Lal Jat held the Water Resources portfolio in Rajasthan till recently.
Sanwar Lal Jat, who was inducted in the Narendra Modi Ministry on Sunday, is a close confidant of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. Till recently, he held the Water Resources portfolio in the Rajasthan government. He is the Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
The 59-year-old professor-turned politician is a five-time MLA, who made his Lok Sabha debut this year defeating state Congress chief Sachin Pilot in Ajmer.
But though he was elected to Parliament, Ms Raje kept him in her ministry and he would regularly appear in the state assembly and reply to questions.
Till last month's cabinet expansion of the Raje government, Mr Jat remained a full-fledged minister though he had resigned from the Assembly, drawing objections from the Congress.
During Ms Raje's previous term -- between 2003 and 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.
While leaving for Delhi yesterday, Mr Jat told reporters, "I shall work with the Prime Minister in the same manner I worked (as a minister) with Chief Minister Raje in Rajasthan".
Mr Jat was born in Bhinai block of Ajmer district in January 1955 and won from the 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 the Nasirabad constituency.
Mr Jat did his MCom and PhD before joining politics and was a commerce professor in the University of Rajasthan. He is married to Narbada and they have two sons and a daughter.