Anupriya Patel and Krishna Raj, the two women in the cabinet reshuffle

The two women faces in the cabinet, inducted after the rejig, are incidentally from Uttar Pradesh, the state where the BJP’s focus has been centred in view of the state elections due in 2017. The BJP’s Krishna Raj has been given a minister of state (MoS) berth in the women and child development ministry, headed by Maneka Gandhi, and Anupriya Patel from the Apna Dal has been inducted into the health ministry as the MoS. 

With Krishna Raj, 49, the party seems to be striking both the Dalit and the women’s voter base. Raj, a Dalit woman from the Pasi community, has been in politics since 1995 when she was elected as an MLA. Her induction is seen as a way of garnering UP’s SC votes where the party does not have a formidable sway. It also helps that she comes from a humble community. 

“The prime ministry has honoured the million of women of the country by making me a ministry, in the same way he has honoured the Dalit community,” said Raj. “I am very happy, and I will work with party workers to ensure I do justice to my responsibilities.”

Of the two, Patel is clearly the more volatile. The 35-year-old joined politics in 2009 with the passing of her father, former Kanshiram aide Sonelal Patel, and helped her mother sculpt Apna Dal into a noteworthy party. She was also instrumental in the Apna Dal allying with the NDA in the 2014 elections, angering her mother Krishna Patel, who expelled Anupriya from Apna Dal in 2015. 

Soon after she took oath as a minister, Patel said that she was elated. “I am grateful to be given this opportunity,” she said.