Nitin Gadkari

Nitin Jairam Gadkari (/nitin ɡʌdkʌˈri/ ; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra who is the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways currently running his tenure for over nine years. Gadkari earlier served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2009 to 2013. He is also known for his work as the Public Works Department Minister of the State of Maharashtra, where, under his leadership, a series of roads, highways and flyovers across the state were constructed.

He currently represents the Nagpur constituency in the Lok Sabha and is a lawyer by occupation. He previously also served as a Minister in various departments which includes Water resources and River development, Shipping, Rural Development and MSME. During the cabinet reshuffle on 7 July 2021, the portfolio for the Ministry of MSME which was under him was reassigned to Narayan Rane, another BJP MP from Maharashtra as a part of cabinet expansion. He is often referred to as the "Expressway Man of India" by the media due to his initiation of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and contributions to the development of expressways and other road infrastructure. The World Economic Forum has recognised him as the "pioneer of public–private partnership (PPP) in the road sector in India". Under his tenure as Minister of Road and Transport, Indian highway network grew by 59% within 9 years.