It was billed by a section of the media as the first major Cabinet reshuffle since November 2014 and until this evening, it seemed that all the “big” announcement was, though, was an expansion of the Union Council of Ministers. Then came the big announcement at the end of the day — the reshuffle that everyone had been primed for but few had anticipated would be quite so emphatic. Arun Jaitley had to hand over Information and Broadcasting Ministry to Venkaiah Naidu. Smriti Irani lost the Human Resources Development (she’s now been demoted to the textile ministry) and Prakash Javadekar stepped up to take over HRD.

Apart from Javadekar, there are 24 changes – 19 fresh faces have been inducted into the Council as Ministers of State, while five (Sanwar Lal Jat, Nihalchand, Ram Shankar Katheria, Mansukh Bhai Vasava and Mohanbhai Kundaria) have been shown the door. Of the 19, all barring two are from BJP. State-wise, the break-up is: Rajasthan (four), Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat (three each), Maharashtra (two), Uttarakhand, Karnataka, West Bengal and Assam (one each).

The official party line, the party of course being Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was that the basis for this expansion was merit, in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda of development. While that might also be the case, ministerial berths have also been handed out for other reason, such as to balance caste equations ahead of next year’s crucial elections to the Assemblies of UP, Uttarakhand and Gujarat, as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in India’s financial capital.

Here are the 19 new faces in Modi’s Council of Ministers:

1. Vijay Goel – Rajya Sabha (Rajasthan)

It is the second coming of Goel, who harboured hopes of leading BJP in the national capital but was banished to Rajasthan. A Minister of State for Sports, Statistics and PMO in the Vajpayee government, Goel started off his political career with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in Delhi University in the 1970s and a three-time Lok Sabha MP.

Portfolio: MoS for Youth Affairs & Sports (Independent Charge); Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation

2. Arjun Ram Meghwal – Lok Sabha (Bikaner (SC), Rajasthan)

A two-time MP, Meghwal is BJP’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha. A former IAS officer known for cycling to Parliament during Delhi’s odd-even car rationing scheme, Meghwal was awarded the Sansad Ratna Award for his consistent performance in the 15^th Lok Sabha.

Portfolio: MoS for Finance; Corporate Affairs

3. Chotu Ram Choudhary – Lok Sabha (Nagaur, Rajasthan)

A former civil servant and president of the Association of Rajasthan Administrative Services, Choudhary has also served as the Pro-vice Chancellor at Mewar University, Chittorgarh.

Portfolio: MoS for Consumer Affairs; Food & Public Distribution

4. PP Chaudhary – Lok Sabha (Pali, Rajasthan)

As an eight-year-old in 1961, Chaudhary joined the RSS as a ‘Bal Swayamsewak’. Born in a poor family of farmers, he has risen through the ranks and is now viewed as a farmer-friendly lawyer.

Portfolio: MoS for Law & Justice; Electronics & Information Technology

5. Krishna Raj – Lok Sabha (Shahjahanpur (SC), UP)

One of the three new faces from UP and one of two women inductees, Raj has one of the best attendance records in the current Lok Sabha (96 per cent). Her inclusion is seen as an attempt by the party to woo the Dalit voters in the run-up to next year’s Assembly elections.

Portfolio: MoS for Women & Child Development

6. Mahendra Nath Pandey – Lok Sabha (Chandauli, UP)

If Raj is the Dalit face in the expanded Council, Pandey is the Brahmin face. Another parliamentarian from the poll-bound state of UP with an impeccable attendance record in the current Lok Sabha (97 per cent), Pandey is a former general secretary of BJP’s UP unit and has held portfolios of Housing and Urban Planning, and Panchayati Raj in the state government.

Portfolio: MoS for Human Resource Development

7. Anupriya Patel – Lok Sabha (Mirzapur, UP)

She is the daughter of Apna Dal founder Sone Lal Patel. The party has a strong base among Kurmis, a significant OBC group in eastern UP. With UP going to polls in 2017, an alliance with Apna Dal could be crucial for the BJP to perform well in the state. Patel, however, is locked in a legal battle with her mother Krishna Patel (who is the president of Apna Dal) over control of the party.

Portfolio: MoS for Health & Family Welfare

8. MJ Akbar – Rajya Sabha (MP)

A renowned journalist and author, Akbar was a Congress MP from Kishangunj from 1989-91 before joining BJP in March, 2014. After the Gujarat riots in 2012, Akbar wrote a scathing piece obliquely comparing then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to Hitler. After joining the party, he wrote, of Modi, “…among the visible choices, only one person best suited to lift the nation out of a septic swamp. You know his name as well as I do.”

Portfolio: MoS for External Affairs

9. Anil Madhav Dave – Rajya Sabha (MP)

Dave has been a member of the Upper House since 2009, his most recent re-election coming last month. During his tenure, Dave has been a member of the Committee on Water Resources as well as the Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change. Dave has authored several books in Hindi and has been actively working for Narmada river conservation.

Portfolio: MoS for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge)

10. Faggan Singh Kulaste – Lok Sabha (Mandla (ST), MP)

The national president of BJP’s Scheduled Tribe Morcha, Kulaste has been, barring the 15th Lok Sabha from 2009-14, representing his constituency since 1996. He was a surprise inclusion in PM Modi’s expanded cabinet since his name had featured in the infamous cash-for-votes scandal in 2008. Kulaste, who was seen waving wads of cash in the Parliament, spent two months in jail before being let off by a Delhi court.

Portfolio: MoS for Health & Family Welfare

11. Mansukh L Mandaviya – Rajya Sabha (Gujarat)

Mandaviya has roots in the ABVP, and has climbed his way up the BJP. Known to be a Narendra Modi loyalist, he is credited for damage control during the Patidar agitation. Mandaviya used to be the chairman of the Gujarat Agro-Industries Corporation. He is known for his support for eco-friendly ways.

Portfolio: MoS for Road Transport & Highways; Shipping; Chemicals & Fertilizers

12. Jasvantsinh Bhabhor – Lok Sabha (Dahod (ST), Gujarat)

One of Gujarat’s three new inductees is a parliamentarian from a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Bhabhor served as the state minister for Tribal Development, Panchayat and Rural Housing when Modi was CM.

Portfolio: MoS for Tribal Affairs

13. Parshottam Rupala – Rajya Sabha (Gujarat)

A national vice-president of BJP, Rupala hails from Amreli district in Modi’s home state and was the party’s Gujarat president from 2006 to 2009. He was a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly for three successive terms from 1991 to 2002 before being elected to the Upper House of India’s Parliament.

Portfolio: MoS for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; Panchayati Raj

14. Ramdas Athawale – Rajya Sabha (Maharashtra)

President of Republican Party of India (Athawale faction), Athawale was a member of the revolutionary organisation Dalit Panthers in the 1970s. His inclusion is aimed at tilting the Dalit vote in BJP’s favour in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. Interestingly, he forgot to say his name at Tuesday’s oath-taking ceremony.

Portfolio: MoS for Social Justice & Empowerment

15. Dr Subhash Bhamre – Lok Sabha (Dhule, Maharashtra)

Having earlier contested polls on a Shiv Sena ticket and lost, Dr Bhamre became a parliamentarian for the first time in 2014. A cancer surgeon, he hails from the Maratha community. His presence in the Council of Ministers is likely to give impetus to the Manmad-Indore rail link.

Portfolio: MoS for Defence

16. Ajay Tamta – Lok Sabha (Almora (SC), Uttarakhand)

A two-time BJP MLA before he became a parliamentarian, Tamta served as a Cabinet Minister in the BC Khanduri government between 2008 and 2009. A prominent Dalit leader, he was nominated to represent Uttarakhand in the BJP’s national council in early 2016. His name was also floated for the post of BJP state president but he turned it down, saying “I’m not very keen on getting the post as my hands are already full as a Lok Sabha member”.

Portfolio: MoS for Textiles

17. SS Ahluwalia – Lok Sabha (Darjeeling, West Bengal)

A four-time member of the Rajya Sabha between 1996 and 2012, Ahluwalia during his Congress days was a Rajiv Gandhi loyalist and a critic of PV Narasimha Rao who was placated with a Minister of State berth in the Urban Affairs and Employment, and Parliamentary Affairs, between September 1995 and May 1996. As a member of the BJP, a party that he joined when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM, he is considered close to LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj but not Arun Jaitley.

Portfolio: MoS for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare; Parliamentary Affairs

18. Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi – Lok Sabha (Bijapur (SC), Karnataka)

Ramesh Jigajinagi has been elected to the Karnataka state assembly thrice (between 1983 and 1998) and to the Lok Sabha five times. Prior to joining the BJP in 2004, Jigajinagi was a member of the Ramakrishna Hegde-led Lok Shakti party. An influential Dalit leader, he used to be a police officer and even owns his own vineyards in north Karnataka’s Krishna valley.

Portfolio: MoS for Drinking Water & Sanitation

19. Rajen Gohain, Lok Sabha (Nowgong, Assam)

Rajen Gohain has been winning the Nowgong seat for the BJP since 1999, with his victory in the 2014 general election being the fourth consecutive one. Gohain belongs to the Ahom community and was involved in the Assamese agitation against illegal immigrants in the early 1980s. Gohain’s performance in the Lok Sabha, however, hasn’t been spectacular – he has participated in a mere eight debates and no private bills to his name.

Portfolio: MoS for Railways