Amethi’s Giant Slayer Smriti Irani Takes Charge of Women and Child Development Ministry

Smriti Zubin Irani has been given charge of the Ministry of Women and Child Development. She has also retained the Ministry of Textiles.

In the previous cabinet, Smriti has been given the plum post of human resource development minister and later served as the minister for information and broadcasting.2019 Performance

In the Lok Sabha elections, the 43-year-old emerged as a giant-killer, pulling off one of the biggest victories and scripting a historic win by dethroning Rahul Gandhi in Congress's home turf of Amethi.

The popular television actor-turned politician continued to cultivate Amethi in the past five years despite her 214 loss to Gandhi and this helped her reap electoral dividends.

Throughout her campaigning this time, Irani asserted that people of Amethi want change and development and will vote for Narendra Modi.Political Journey

Irani became the youngest cabinet minister in 2014 after the BJP’s massive victory in Lok Sabha polls and was assigned the high-profile human resources development (HRD) portfolio. However, she was shifted out of HRD ministry to Textiles after a two-year tenure replete with controversies.

Her stint as the information & broadcasting minister was also controversial -- from reportedly fighting with the Prasar Bharti Board to issuing a notification on 'fake news', which was apparently withdrawn at the behest of the PMO.

During her campaign in Amethi this time, Irani was often locked in a war of words with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who dubbed her as an "outsider".

She became the Member of Rajya Sabha in 2011. She was appointed as the BJP's vice-president in 2012.

From September 2011 to May 2014, she was also a member of Committee on Coal and Steel. In August 2012, she was appointed as a member of Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management and a member of the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Urban Development.