Former minister of state for food processing industries, Niranjan Jyoti is among the BJP leaders who have been retained in Narendra Modi’s council of ministers. This time she has been handed MoS Ministry of Rural Development.
An influential Nishad leader, who was able to retain her Fatehpur seat facing the combined might of BSP-SP-RLD combination, is among the few party leaders from Uttar Party who have been retained in the council of ministers.
She defeated the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) candidate Sukhdev Prasad Verma by a margin of over 5.66 lakh votes.
Her inclusion in the council of ministers can be seen as a reward for the Nishad community which supported, especially in Poorvanchal region of east UP and adjoining regions of Bihar, the BJP in recent Lok Sabha elections.
She won her first election in 2012 on a BJP ticket to the UP Assembly. Before that, she had made several attempts in assembly elections.
From 2012 to 2013, she served as a member of Women and Child Development Standing Committee of the UP state cabinet.
From 2013 to '14 she served as a member of the Estimate Committee. She also served as the BJP’s state unit vice-president.
The BJP giving her a Lok Sabha ticket in 2014 was seen as an attempt to make inroads in the depressed sections in Uttar Pradesh, a move that paid expected dividends to the party.
She was subsequently appointed the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries in the Union government.
The 52-year-old sadhvi is known for making controversial, communally charged statements.
Her official page on the Ministry of Food Processing Industries mentions her three-decade long association with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and describes her as a 'patron of Uttar Pradesh Durgavahini, as Central Office Bearer of Sadhvi Shakti Parishad’, and as a member of the Kendriya Margdarshak (Central Board of Directors) of the Vishva Hindu Parishad.'
The page also mentions her association with ‘Ram Janmbhoomi’ movement.
Comments
0 comment