The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday witnessed a major reshuffle. Forty-Three ministers took oath at the swearing ceremony held in the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

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Twelve ministers including Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar were dropped as 35 new faces joined the cabinet. 

Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel was made the Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. A representative from Mirzapur, Patel was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from 2016 to 2019. 

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Anupriya Patel is the national president of Apna Dal (Sonelal). She started her political journey in 2012 when her party contested in alliance with the Peace Party of India and Bundelkhand Congress. She was elected from Varanasi%u2019s Rohaniya. Since then, she has been a key political player in Uttar Pradesh.  In 2014, she contested the Lok Sabha election in alliance with the BJP and won from Mirzapur.

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 She was educated at Lady Shri Ram College for Women and Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University, formerly Kanpur University. She has a master’s degree in Psychology and also Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and has taught at Amity. 

Anupriya Patel is the daughter of Sone Lal Patel, who was among the founding members of the Bahujan Samaj Party. He later formed his own party Apna dal in 1955. He died in an accident In 2009 and Anupriya Patel took a prominent role in the party and became the national president.

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