BJP’s UP Brahmin face Jitin Prasada, Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (S) find place in Modi’s 3.0 govt

Once considered close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Prasada started his political career in the same year as that of Rahul Gandhi in 2004. He has represented the Shahjahanpur and Dhaurara Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh in the past and has won Pilibhit this time.

While he became a member of Parliament for the first time at the age of 31, Jitin Prasada was one of the youngest ministers in the United Progressive Alliance Government in 2008. Educated at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), and International Management Institute, New Delhi, Prasada represented significant ministries like steel and petroleum during UPA I as well as UPA II.

He formed the Brahmin Chetna Parishad and travelled across Uttar Pradesh to raise his voice against alleged atrocities against Brahmins in 2020 and has been vocal about issues facing the community.

He parted ways with Congress in 2021 to join the BJP, which made him Cabinet Minister and gave him the significant Public Works Department. When the BJP Government came back to power for the second time in UP in 2022, Jitin Prasada retained his ministerial post in the state and continued as a Member of Legislative Council (MLC). He is considered the BJP’s Bramhin face

In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Pilibhit in support of Jitin Prasada, while SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav attended a rally in favour of the SP candidate during the Lok Sabha election campaign. Prasada won the Lok Sabha election 2024 by a margin of more than 1.6 lakh votes.

Anupriya Patel has been the president of Apna Dal (Soneylal) since 2017. 

Her father Sonelal Patel was among the founding members of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) but started his own party – the Apna Dal — in 1995. He died in 2009. The Apna Dal founded by Soneylal broke away into two factions in 2016 after disputes between Anupriya and her mother Krishna Patel who now heads the Apna Dal (Kameravadi). The two Apna Dal factions enjoy the support of Kurmis as well as non-Yadav OBC communities.

Anupriya’s political career began in 2012, when she was elected a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from the Rohaniya constituency in Varanasi.

She has been a steady NDA and BJP ally since 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP at the Centre to its first victory. 

In 2014, she was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from the Mirzapur seat after she defeated the BSP’s Samudra Bind by 2.19 lakh votes. Then in 2019, Anupriya won the seat by 2.32 lakh votes defeating the Samajwadi Party (SP)’s Ram Charitra Nishad. 

In the first Modi government term, Anupriya was Union minister of State (MoS) for Health and Family Welfare between July 2016 and May 2019. In the second term, she was appointed the MoS for Commerce and Industry.

On Tuesday, Anupriya won the seat again by defeating the SP’s Ramesh Bind, although by a much smaller margin of 37,810 votes.