Anupriya Patel, 40, of Apna Dal (Sonelal) made a comeback in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet churn on Wednesday. The parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the NDA government from 2016 to 2019. She was 35-year-old then.

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Her political journey

Anupriya Patel, who is the national president of Apna Dal (Sonelal), started her political journey in the year 2012 when her party contested in alliance with the Peace Party of India and Bundelkhand Congress. She was elected from Varanasi’s 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.

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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Mother-daughter controversy

For most of 2015-2016, Anupriya Patel was in news over the reported rift with her mother. After winning from Mirzapur, she had to vacate her Lok Sabha seat of Rohaniya. She wanted her husband to contest from this seat but that didn’t happen because her mother Krishna Patel herself contested from that seat and that became a point of conflict between the two. The two even fought over the post of party president and soon after losing from the Rohaniya seat, Krishna Patel sacked her daughter and her supporters from the party.

An off-shoot of Apna Dal

In 2016, after being kicked out of the Apna Dal by her mother, formed another party Apna Dal (Sonelal) with a handful of supporters. Meanwhile, Anupriya Patel and her mother are still fighting a case in the high court over the party ownership. Since the case is subjudice, Krishna Patel has formed a separate party – Apna Dal (Kameravadi

Return to PM Modi’s cabinet

In 2014, Anupriya Patel was appointed as the minister of state in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. She served till 2019 but in the second term she was dropped. With UP elections due early next year, Anupriya Patel’s induction in the cabinet could be a strategic move by the BJP, which is now consolidating all possible help in the state to repeat 2016 win.