Kumari Selja
From GovernIndia
Background
Educated at Convents of Jesus and Mary, New Delhi and Punjab University, Chandigarh, Kumari Selja began her political career in the Mahila Congress becoming its President in 1990. One of the seniormost Dalit leaders within the Congress Party, she was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha in 1991 from Sirsa in Haryana. She was Union Minister of State for Education and Culture in the Narasimha Rao government. Despite the Congress debacle in Haryana in 1996, she was re-elected to the Lok Sabha. In 2004, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Ambala constituency of Haryana. She was Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in the Manmohan Singh government at the Centre.