Appreciating the commitment and dedication of the DRDO scientists, Singh directed them to focus their energies on the flagship programs of national importance, a Defence Ministry statement said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police security being provided to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will continue till the task is taken over by the Army, another official said.

Senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was added to four more committees of the Union cabinet late on Thursday, a day after the Cabinet Secretariat released the list of committees reconstituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the exercise reflecting the special stature granted to Home Minister Amit Shah, who was made part of all the eight panels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reconstituted the Cabinet Committees, in an exercise which reflects the special importance given to Home Minister Amit Shah, who has been made part of all the eight panels, while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is a member of only two.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Monday on his maiden visit to Srinagar after assuming charge reviewed security situation in the Kashmir valley.

In the morning, Singh will first arrive at the high-altitude. Then, the defence minister will go to Siachen glacier where he will interact with the Army's field commanders and soldiers.

Top commanders of the Army will brief the defence minister about overall security situation along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and apprise him about the anti-terror operations in Kashmir, they said.

An amiable politician who has friends in almost all political parties, it was when he headed the Home Ministry that the government launched a major crackdown on the Maoists and other insurgents.

A total of 58 ministers including the Prime Minister, his 24 Union Ministers, 9 Ministers of State with Independent Charge and 24 Ministers of State took their oaths today. Here is the full list of all the ministers in Modi Cabinet 2.0

According to the India TV-CNX Exit Poll, Rajnath Singh will repeat his 2014 victory in Lucknow by defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Poonam Sinha.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday slammed the Congress for its leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's justification of his "neech aadmi" jibe against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017 and sought its response on that.

"Never before has the prime minister been called names by a president of a national party. 'Chowkidar chor hai' slogan was given by Gandhi. This was wrong as prime minister is a prime minister after all," Rajnath Singh told PTI in an interview on Sunday.

The grand old party right from days of Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi has been "befooling" countrymen in the name of ending poverty said Rajnath Singh

Pankaj Singh said that there was no challenge in this Lok Sabha elections and claimed that the BJP will win the elections with a better margin than last time.

"If it's within our powers, we will make the sedition law even more stringent. We will make such a strict law that it would send shivers down their spine,” Home Minister Rajnath Singh said.

The general elections are scheduled to be held in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha.

In a letter, three Congress leaders said that a laser was pointed at Rahul during his interaction with journalists after filing nomination for the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday.

Written by film historian-author Gautam Chintamani, the book Rajneeti chronicles Rajnath Singh's five decade-career in Indian polity.

"[The BJP] never said Rs 15 lakh would come [to accounts of people]. We had said we would take action against black money. Action is being taken against black money. It was our government which made SIT on the topic of black money," Rajnath Singh was quoted by ANI, as saying.

The home minister's comments come almost a week after former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, in a speech in Kashmir's Bandipora, pitched for the revival of the posts of prime minister and president for Jammu and Kashmir