New Delhi, Jul 12 (IANS): India's new minister of tribal and panchayati raj affairs, Kishore Chandra Deo, said Tuesday that he was grateful to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for giving him the "very challenging task".

Deo, 64, who belongs to a Scheduled Tribe community and belongs to north coastal Andhra Pradesh, said: "I think these two portfolios (tribal and panchayati raj) are very crucial portfolios. They don't confine themselves to a particular region for tribals... Panchayati raj is of course relevant for rural India and other backward regions. Therefore I think it is a very challenging task."

"I'm rather grateful to them (the prime minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi) for having bestowed such faith in me. I can assure that I will do my best for the people belonging to tribal communities and people in the rural areas and panchayat will get maximum benefit from the central government," Deo told NDTV.

"This is a decision that is taken by the party leadership and for whatever reason... I think they have taken the decision in interest of party and both the governments."

Deo had earlier served as union minister of state for steel, mines and coal in 1979-80.

Hailing from Vizianagaram district in north coastal Andhra, Deo was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1977.

He was re-elected to the seventh and eighth Lok Sabhas in 1980 and 1984 respectively. He became a member of Rajya Sabha in 1994.

Deo was again elected to Lok Sabha in 2004 and re-elected in 2009.