A firebrand leader and Hindutva mascot, Uma Bharti has always been in the limelight whether she was with the BJP or out of it. Raised by Vijaya Raje Scindia of Gwalior, Bharti became involved with the Bharatiya Janata Party at a very young age. Currently, an MP from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, she is a Cabinet Minister for water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation in the Modi government. Her first electoral battle came in 1984 when she contested the Lok Sabha elections. Her first victory in Lok Sabha elections was in 1989 when she won from Khajuraho constiuency in Madhya Pradesh. She retained the seat in 1991, 1996 and 1998. In the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, she held various portfolios as Minister of State and Cabinet Minister, including that of Human Resource Development, Tourism, Youth Affairs and Sports. Bharti was appointed the Chief ministerial candidate of the BJP for the 2003 Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh. On the back of a fierce campaign based on a plank of development, and helped along by her reputation as a Hindutva firebrand, she led the party to a three-fourths majority in the legislature. In August 2004, after only a year in office, an arrest warrant was issued against Uma Bharti in connection with the 1994 Hubli riots, forcing her to step down as CM. She was actively involved in the ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ movement, she has been named in the Liberhan Commission report on the demolition of the Babri mosque at the disputed site in Ayodhya. She was re-inducted in the BJP in June 2011 and was tasked with reviving the party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the assembly election in 2012.