Lucknow:

Uttar Pradesh has strong women leaders, but interestingly, most of them do not belong to the state.

Sonia Gandhi

Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi leads the cadre of political talent brought in from outside Uttar Pradesh. Mrs Gandhi, who is Italian and has lived in New Delhi since her marriage to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, made her political debut in Amethi in 1999 before contesting and winning Rai Barre between 2004 and 2019 favorable seats.

Sonia Gandhi first campaigned from Amethi in 1984, when her husband Rajiv Gandhi made his political debut.

When Sonia Gandhi finally entered politics after the death of the former prime minister, she chose Amisi, her family’s turf.

Mayawati

Mayawati was born in Delhi, but her political “karambhoomi” became Uttar Pradesh when the first SP-BSP government was formed in 1993.

Circumstances forced Mayawati to become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1995, and over the years she has become a politician to be reckoned with.

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Actor-turned-politician Hema Malini, who is seeking a third term in Mathura, belongs to Tamil Nadu and has spent most of her life in Mumbai.

She contested the 2014 and 2019 Mathura elections and won. Hema Malini calls herself “Krishna ki gopi” and claims to have a divine connection with Mathura.

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Smriti Irani, who is seeking re-election from Amethi, originally belonged to Delhi.

After winning the Amethi title in 2019, she called herself “Amethi ki bitiya”. She even established her own home in Gauriganj, Amethi and became well-versed in local politics.

Maneka Gandhi

Maneka Gandhi, originally from Delhi, is the most senior of these women MPs, having won the first election in 1989 on a Janata Dal ticket. She later joined the BJP and always chose Uttar Pradesh for elections – first Pilibhit and then Sultanpur.

Jaya Prada

Jaya Prada, another actor-turned-politician, was born in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, but chose Uttar Pradesh as her home state despite joining the TDP earlier. Political career.

Jaya Prada successfully contested the Rampur Lok Sabha seat on the Samajwadi Party’s ticket in the 2004 and 2009 elections. Later, she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.

Dimple Yadav

Dimple Yadav is a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party and the wife of Akhilesh Yadav. He originally belonged to Uttarakhand, but after marrying Akhilesh Yadav After her husband (Akhilesh Yadav) got married, he made Uttar Pradesh his home.

Dimple Yadav started his career in the 2009 by-polls in Firozabad, where he faced Congress MP Raj Babbar. She lost the election. She won the Kannauj seat in the 2012 by-election. She won the Kannauj seat in 2014 but lost in 2019.

However, after the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2022, Dimple Yadav won the Maipuri by-election.

Even in the past, several women leaders from outside Uttar Pradesh had contested polls in the state.

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar first forayed into politics when she won the Bijnor by-election in 1985. Meira Kumar is the daughter of late veteran politician Jagjivan Ram and was born in Bihar.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was first elected in 1984 from Kannauj. She was born in Kapurthala, Punjab.

Freedom fighter Sucheta Kripalani, India’s first woman chief minister to lead the government in Uttar Pradesh, also belongs to Punjab, but in the assembly polls in Mehdawal, San Kabir Nagar win.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)