The new Minister Sushma Swaraj is a veteran parliamentarian who as Leader of Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha should have been the automatic choice to be BJP’s prime ministerial candidate.
The 62-year-old cut her teeth in politics as an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad ABVP (student wing of the Jan Sangh/BJP) in the 1970s and at 25, became Haryana’s youngest Minister. She has the distinction of becoming the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi in 1998.
A genial and suave, Ms. Swaraj is a tough political opponent known for her oratorical skills. It is her political instinct to go for the kill that made her the natural choice of BJP to take on the Congress president Sonia Gandhi, when she fought her maiden election from Bellary in Karnataka in 1999.
As Union Minister in the Vajpayee government, she held several portfolios including Information and Broadcasting and Health and Family welfare.
After a gap of nearly 45 years, India would have a woman at the helm of affairs of Ministry of External Affairs. The late Indira Gandhi was the first woman to occupy the office (September 6, 1967 to February 13, 1969).
Published - May 27, 2014 03:48 am IST
