Nitin Jairam Gadkari (; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician who is serving as the 40th Minister of Road Transport & Highways since 2014. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways, currently in his tenure for over twelve years, and is the only person to serve under a single portfolio for three consecutive terms. A senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he served as the President of BJP party from 2009 to 2013.
He currently represents the Nagpur constituency in the Lok Sabha and is a lawyer by profession. He has previously served as a Minister in various departments, including Water resources and River development, Shipping, Rural Development and MSME. During his term as Minister for Public Works, he undertook large-scale infrastructure projects. He is recognized for being pioneer of PPP in the road sector in India. His major contributions include initiation of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and other contributions to the development of expressway and road infrastructure. He infamously fast-tracked the E100 fuel.
Early life Gadkari was born into a Marathi Brahmin family in Nagpur, India to Jairam Gadkari and Bhanutai Gadkari on 27 May 1957. During his adolescence, he worked for the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the student union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He completed M.Com. and LL.B. from Nagpur University.
Political career Gadkari served as the Minister of Public Works Department (PWD) of the Government of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999 and restructured it from top to bottom. He has served as the president of the Maharashtra state unit of BJP.
Gadkari strongly supported privatisation while he campaigned for investments in infrastructure from private firms. He addressed several meetings between private investors, contractors, builders and various trade organisations and diverted large amounts of budgeted projects towards privatisation. Subsequently, the state government allocated 7 billion for rural connectivity. Over the next four years, all-weather road connectivity in Maharashtra was extended to 98% of the population. The project aimed to connect 13,736 remote villages which remained unconnected since independence by road. It also helped ameliorate malnutrition in remote Melghat-Dharni area of Amravati district, which previously had no access to medical aid, ration or educational facilities.
Gadkari was the architect of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. He received the Late Madhavrao Limaye Award by Public Library Nashik, for Most Efficient Member of Parliament for 2020–21.
Positions served Minister, Govt of Maharashtra Chairman, Purti Group of Companies President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra StateBJP official site Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Council Former Minister for Public Works Department, Maharashtra State Member of Legislative Council, Maharashtra State Elected to the Maharashtra Govt. Legislative Council in 1989 from graduates constituency, Nagpur Region Re-elected in 1990 Re-elected in 1996 and elected unopposed in 2002 Inducted in the Maharashtra State Government Cabinet as the Minister for Public Works on 27 May 1995 Member of the High Powered Committee for Privatisation, Government of Maharashtra Chairman, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, India Guardian Minister for Nagpur District, Govt. of Maharashtra Chairman, Mining policy Implementation Committee, Govt. of Maharashtra Chairman, Metropolis Beautification Committee, Govt. of Maharashtra Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Council, Chairman National Rural Road Development Committee Chairman, Review Committee of PWD at Govt. of India State President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra National President of BJP, India
As Public Works Department (PWD) Minister, Maharashtra, 1996–99
As PWD Minister of Maharashtra, Gadkari played a crucial role in expediting the construction of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. In 1990, the Government of Maharashtra conducted feasibility studies for the new expressway to be operated on a toll basis, however, it was only after Gadkari took over as PWD Minister that the construction of this project was fast-tracked. Gadkari entrusted the work of the construction of Mumbai-Pune expressway to MSRDC in March 1997 on Build-Operate-Transfer basis with permission to collect toll for 30 years. The tender notice was published in leading newspapers all over India and also on the Internet. Due to the wide publicity, 133 tenders were sold and on 18 December 1997, 55 tenders were received. After technical and financial evaluation, tenders were accepted and work orders were given on 1 January 1998 to four contractors. Thereafter tenders for widening of the Khandala and Lonavala-Khandala bypass works were invited. The tenders were received on 24 August 1998 and orders were issued on 4 September 1998. The first sections of the Expressway opened in 2000, and the entire route was completed, opened to traffic and made fully operational from April 2002.
The other major achievement of Gadkari as state minister was the construction of 55 flyovers in Mumbai, which eased the city traffic problems significantly.
As President of BJP, 2009–2013 Gadkari was appointed the president of the BJP in December 2009. This was considering a tough phase for the BJP as the party had lost two successive Lok Sabha elections and needed a quick revamp.
In his book India Aspires, co-authored with Tuhin Sinha, Gadkari spells out his development ideas for the country in great detail. Increased institutional support to green energy, alternate fuel and effective waste management hold special importance in Gadkari's development plan.
As BJP party president, Gadkari, re-emphasised on legendary Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhya's principles of Integral Humanism and Antyodaya (upliftment of the poor). At the same time, various cells were constituted within the party to regularly monitor the develop work undertaken by various BJP state governments and to come up with new policy inputs.
Gadkari resigned as party president in January 2013.
2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections Gadkari contested 2014 Lok Sabha election successfully from Nagpur constituency and won. He defeated Congress party candidate Vilas Muttemwar by margin of . He retained his seat in 2019, defeating Nana Patole of Congress party by margin.
Union Minister
Gadkari became the Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Minister of Shipping in May 2014. Out of the stalled projects he inherited, projects worth were terminated and others worth were put up for rebidding. He increased the pace of road creation in the country from 2 km/day to 16.5 km/day in his first year and to 21 km/day in the second year and end of 2018 30 km/day. He reserved an amount of one per cent of the total projects awarded in his tenure worth for trees and beautification.
During the Second Modi ministry, Gadkari retained Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, while the Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation were replaced with Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises on 31 May 2019. Highway construction pace post 2019 was 36 km per day in 2020 and Gadkari aims to take it to 68 km per day with a target of 25000 km in 2022–23. In line with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat green fuel adoption and fuel self sufficiency Gadkari drove to the parliament in a hydrogen powered FCEV Toyota Mirai car. He asked people to opt for green fuel vehicles.
Gadkari, who was virtually present at the inauguration of the headquarters of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on 28 October 2020, made a speech that was highly critical of the NHAI officials and bureaucracy.
Gadkari has been the subject of discussion for several initiatives by both BJP and Congress leaders as well as critics, most notably for increasing blend of ethanol in gasoline, encouraging mixing plastic in asphalt-bitumen roads, as well as launching the Bharat NCAP. The Bharat NCAP has been launched on the lines of Global NCAP, which is based on Latin NCAP 2016. Due to absence of safety features in cars made for India, which was noted following the crash testing of a few models in 2014, Gadkari mandated safety features such as ABS and 6 airbags(earlier 2 airbags) for cars sold across India. While he received praise for trying to make roads and cars safer, some automakers criticised this decision, stating that adding safety features will drive up prices of vehicles and make them unaffordable.
Under his tenure as Minister of Road Transport & Highways, India's National Highway (NH) network has grown by 60% becoming world's second largest network, rising from 91,287 km in 2014 to 146,195 km in 2024. The length of National High-Speed Corridors (HSC) has increased by 2560%, rising from 93 km in 2014 to 2,474 km in 2024 and the length of 4-lane and above National Highways (excluding HSCs) has more than doubled, expanding from 18,278 km in 2014 to 45,947 km in 2024.
Khasdar Sanskrutik Mahotsav Gadkari, organises Khasdar Sanskrutik Mahotsav every year in Nagpur. The event focuses on India's diverse cultural heritage, encompassing traditional arts, music, dance, and literature. The Program Involves Various Bollywood celebrtities, singers and performers including Hema Malini, Mika Singh, Amit Trivedi and Adnan Sami.
2024 general election In March 2024, he was announced as the BJP candidate from his home constituency Nagpur in the 2024 General Elections. He secured a decisive victory for the third consecutive time, defeating his closest Congress rival by a margin of 137,603 votes.
Industrial career During his career in politics, Gadkari set up a number of private industries and companies. These include – Poly sack Industrial Society Ltd – founder and chairman Nikhil Furniture and Appliances Pvt. Ltd – promoter and director Antyodaya Trust – founder and member Empress Employees Co-operative Paper Mills Ltd – founder and chairman Purti Power and Sugar Ltd / Purti Sakhar Karkhana Ltd – promoter
Gadkari has registered himself as an agriculturist for tax purposes. He also started a fruit export company under the banner of "Ketaki Overseas Trading Company". He owns a total of 17 sugar plantations in Vidarbha under the banner of the Purti group. Gadkari floated the Purti Power and Sugar Ltd (now Purti Group) in 1995, when he started as PWD minister in Maharashtra. In 2012, the companies came into the media glare based on irregularities unearthed by RTI activist Anjali Damania, the Income Tax department investigated a number of firms that had invested in Purti, and found more than a dozen of these to be bogus addresses. The Income Tax department, which had recently raided and searched the premises of various companies associated with the Purti group, [said in a report] that these 'shell companies' are 'fake' or 'non-existent'. Another three investing firms were found co-located with the Somani Group, but no one knew of these firms.quote: Vidya Buildcon Private Ltd, Sanobar Infrastructure and Roller Multitrade — are all registered in an office on the second floor of Shree Niwas House... This was the headquarters of various companies belonging to the well-known Somani Group. Members of the Somani family and their employees present in the premises denied any knowledge regarding these firms. Following this, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal amplified the allegations accusing Gadkari of irregularities. However, Kejriwal apologised unconditionally after Gadkari filed a defamation case against him.