Oscar Fernandes
Oscar Fernandes (born 27 March 1941) is an Indian politician, a senior Indian National Congress leader and was the Union Cabinet Minister for Transport, Road and Highways and Labour and Employment, Government Of India in UPA government.He is one of the closest confident of the present Congress President Sonia Gandhi.One of the major leader in the taking of important decisions of Congress Party he is also the Chairman of Central Election Authority of the All India Congress Committee.He was previously the AICC General Secretary,the Minister of State (Independent charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment in Dr. Manmohan Singh's first UPA government in India. He was elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 from Udupi constituency in Karnataka. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1996 from the same constituency. Later, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1998. He was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004. He was a Union Minister from 2004–2009, holding a number of portfolios such as Statistics and Programme Implementation, NRI Affairs, Youth and Sports Affairs and Labour and Employment.