Uma Bharti

Uma Bharti
Uma Bharti in 2014
Vice-President of Bharatiya Janata Party
President	Amit Shah Jagat Prakash Nadda
Union Cabinet Minister
In office 16 May 2014 – 24 May 2019
Ministry	Term
Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation	3 September 2017 - 24 May 2019
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation	16 May 2014 - 3 September 2017
In office 7 November 2000 – 29 January 2003
Ministry	Term
Ministry of Coal	26 August 2002 - 29 January 2003
Ministry of Mines	26 August 2002 - 29 January 2003
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports	7 November 2000 - 25 August 2002
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office 16 May 2014 – 28 May 2019
Preceded by	Pradeep Jain Aditya
Succeeded by	Anurag Sharma
Constituency	Jhansi
In office 1999–2004
Preceded by	Sushil Chandra Verma
Succeeded by	Kailash Joshi
Constituency	Bhopal
In office 1989–1999
Preceded by	Vidyawati Chaturvedi
Succeeded by	Satyavrat Chaturvedi
Constituency	Khajuraho
15th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
In office 8 December 2003 – 22 August 2004
Preceded by	Digvijaya Singh
Succeeded by	Babulal Gaur
Member of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office 2003 (2003)–2006 (2006)
Preceded by	Swami Prasad Lodhi
Succeeded by	Kapur Chand Ghuwara
Constituency	Malhara
Member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly
In office 2012 (2012)–2014 (2014)
Preceded by	Anil Kumar Ahirwar
Succeeded by	Kaptan Singh
Constituency	Charkhari
Personal details
Born	(1959-05-03) 3 May 1959 (age 65) Tikamgarh, Madhya Pradesh, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party

Uma Bharti (born 3 May 1959) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. She became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a young age, unsuccessfully contesting her first parliamentary elections in 1984. In 1989, she successfully contested the Khajuraho seat, and retained it in elections conducted in 1991, 1996 and 1998. In 1999, she switched constituencies and won the Bhopal seat.

Bharti held various state-level and cabinet-level portfolios in the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Tourism, Youth Affairs and Sports, and also in Coal and Mines during the second as well as third ministry of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. After Narendra Modi became the Indian Prime Minister in 2014, she was appointed the Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, and held this office until September 2017.

Bharti was among the leaders in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement of the 1980s and 1990s, organised by the Vishva Hindu Parishad. She was present at the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and was later acquitted by a special CBI court in relation to charges filed against her in the incident.

In the 2003 State Assembly polls, she led the BJP to a sweeping win in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly. She defeated her Indian National Congress (INC) opponent from the Malehra seat by a 25 per cent margin. She resigned from the post of Chief Minister in August 2004, when an arrest warrant was issued against her regarding the 1994 Hubli riot case. After a falling-out with the BJP, she established her own political party for a while before returning to the fold and being elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the state of Uttar Pradesh. She was subsequently re-elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India.

She is occasionally addressed by the Hindu honorific Sādhvī, a respectful Sanskrit title for a female renunciant.^[1]