Sushma, Maneka, Uma Bharti: The women who made it to Modi's cabinet

The key women in Narendra Modi’s cabinet list are now final and while their final portfolios could still change, it’s pretty much a given that the seven of them will figure on the list of ministers. Interestingly the youngest and oldest Cabinet ministers in Modi’s government will be both women and from the Rajya Sabha. We take a quick look at seven women who will be a part of the Modi Cabinet. [caption id=“attachment_1543195” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Maneka Gandhi and Sushma Swaraj. Ibnlive[/caption] 1) Sushma Swaraj: While Swaraj is known for her fiery speeches, her relationship with Modi hasn’t been all friendly with rumours of discord doing the rounds of the political circles. Swaraj previously served as Union Health Minister from 2003-2004. She was also the first woman spokesperson for any political party in India and won the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award. To read more about Swaraj’s profile, click here . 2) Smriti Irani: At 38, she will be the youngest cabinet minister in Modi’s team. Irani might have lost the election against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, but her closeness to the BJP PM had paid off. Irani joined the BJP in 2003. She also contested against Kapil Sibal from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi in the Lok Sabha 2004 elections, but lost. Irani in 2010 was made National Secretary of the party and also appointed as All India President of the BJP Mahila Morcha. Irani was appointed as Member of Parliament from Gujarat to the Rajya Sabha in 2011 and her term will end in 2017. At the time, Modi had signed her form as one of the proposers. Read more about Irani here . 3) Najma Heptullah: This 74-year-old Parliamentarian was earlier with the Congress, before she joined the BJP in 2004. She is a BJP Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh and the grand-niece of freedom fighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. Heptullah blamed strained relations with Congress president Sonia Gandhi for quitting Congress and had said that Sonia had humiliated her. A veteran parliamentarian, she has also served as Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha. 4) Nirmala Sitharaman: The BJP spokesperson will be getting a Minister of State rank with independent charge. Sitharaman is perhaps one of the most qualified ministers with an MPhil from JNU in International Studies. Till date she was a national spokesperson of the BJP. She was also a member of the National Women’s Commission from 2003 to 2005. 5) Maneka Gandhi: While she may best be known for her activism for animals Gandhi has served as Minister of State in a range of ministries like social justice and empowerment, culture, programme implementation and statistics and environment. From modeling to being known as Sanjay Gandhi’s wife, Maneka has over the decades carved out her own political identity and isn’t shy of taking controversial decisions if she believes in them. 6) Uma Bharti: Bharti briefly served as Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development and has also been Minister of State for Tourism. She was also minister for Youth Affairs and Sports and briefly even Coal and Mines minister before she was deputed to head the state government of Madhya Pradesh. Her experience at various levels of the government should stand her in good stead. 7) Harsimrat Kaur Badal: A second time MP, Badal from the Shiromani Akali Dal will be part of Modi’s cabinet. The wife of Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal she has so far held no other portfolios. However, she has been a part of a project called Nanhi Chhan aimed to save the girl child and has been a vocal parliamentarian through the last five years.