Smriti Irani, Cabinet Minister, Women and Child Development and Textiles: Actor-turned-politician bagged one of the biggest LS poll victories

Smriti Irani was appointed the Minister of Women and Child Development and also retained her previous portfolio of Minister of Textiles. She won elections from Amethi constituency, a seat which was up till now deemed a Gandhi bastion. Irani, an actor-turned-politician, started her political career by joined the BJP in 2003. [caption id=“attachment_3059148” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Smriti Irani. PTI[/caption] She contested as a BJP candidate against Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk constituency in 2004 general elections but lost the seat. She again lost to Rahul Gandhi in 2014. After losing that battle, she continued to cultivate Amethi for the past five years and this helped her reap electoral dividends: she emerged the giant-killer of 2019 by defeating the Congress president on his home turf. She is among the prominent faces in the party and has held several high-profile ministries. She was the Minister of Human Resource and Development from May 2014 to July 2016 but her portfolio was changed after several controversies. She took over as the textile minister after Venkaiah Naidu vacated that ministry upon election as the Vice-President of India. An erstwhile actor, Irani mentions her profession as a public servant in her election affidavit. However, there is no clarity on her educational qualification, which remains a political controversy. According to My Neta, she passed her 12th and is currently enrolled in the Delhi university’s BCom through distance learning, a course she is yet to complete.