Sushma Swaraj

Sushma Swaraj (born February 14, 1952) is a former union cabinet minister of India. She is also a former chief minister of Delhi. She is one of the most prominent female politicians within the Bharatiya Janata Party; currently the chairperson of the party's 19 member campaign committee for the 2009 General Elections.

Background

Sushma Swaraj was born in Ambala Cantt. in Haryana. She was educated at S.D. College, Ambala Cantt. Haryana and got a B.A. degree. She studied LL.B. from the Law Department of Panjab University, Chandigarh. She was married to Swaraj Kaushal on July 13, 1975 and has one daughter. She is an advocate by profession. She began her political career as a student leader in the 1970s, organizing protests against Indira Gandhi's government.

State Politics

She was a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from 1977-82 and then from 1987-90. As a Janata Party MLA in Devi Lal's government, she was the Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment (1977-1979). She joined the BJP in 1980. Under a combined Lok Dal-BJP government led by Devi Lal, she was the Cabinet Minister of Education, Food and Civil Supplies (1987-1990). She was judged Best Speaker of Haryana State Assembly for three consecutive years.

National Politics

She was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1990. In 1996 she was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from South Delhi. She was Union Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting in 1996, during the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government.

She was re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha for a 2nd term in 1998. Under the second Vajpayee government, she retained the Information and Broadcasting ministry and had additional charge of the Ministry of Telecommunications from March 19 to October 12, 1998.

She left the Union Cabinet from October - December 1998 to serve as the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi. The BJP lost the assembly elections, and she returned to federal politics.

In 1999, she took on a high profile as she contested against the Congress party's President, Sonia Gandhi, from the Bellary constituency in Karnataka, which had returned Congress winners since India's independence. The fervent, high-pitched campaign came to an end with the expected loss of Sushma, but she came within 7% of the vote of Ms. Gandhi.

She returned to Parliament in April 2000 as a Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand. She was re-inducted into the cabinet as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, which she held from September 2000 until January 2003. At that time, she was made the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and also held the post of Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. She held these posts from January 2003 until May 2004, when the National Democratic Alliance government lost elections.

In a heavily publicized and emotionally charged episode following the elections, Sushma Swaraj threatened to shave her head, don a white saree and eat groundnuts (symbollically mourning) if
Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born Congress leader, became Prime Minister.

She was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2006 from Madhya Pradesh. She serves as the deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha. Speculation ran high that Sushma Swaraj was one of the top contenders to be President of the BJP, following Advani's resignation from that role in late 2005. Rajnath Singh ultimately was elected to that post, but Sushma remains a member of the BJP's National Executive.

She is also associated with many social and cultural bodies in various capacities. She was President of the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Haryana for four years.

References

* [http://nrcw.nic.in/shared/sublinkimages/200.htm Sushma Swaraj's Biography]
* [http://164.100.24.167:8080/members/website/Mainweb.asp?mpcode=94 Rajya Sabha: Sushma Swaraj Bio-Data]
* [http://iecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_column.php?content_id=85159 That man from UP]