Jaipur, Dec 06: Born a princess and perceived as an outsider in the hazy politics of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, who is set to become the first woman chief minister of the desert state, is no novice to intricacies of power.
Daughter of BJP stalwart late Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia and younger sister of Congress leader late Madhavrao, the 50- year old Vasundhara, who led the party to an unprecedented majority of its own in the just concluded Assembly polls, had her initiation into politics when as a young girl she accompanied her mother during election tours. Associated with the BJP since its Jansangh days, Vasundhara after her marriage to Prince Hemant Singh of Dholpur in 1972 plunged headlong into politics and was first elected to the Rajasthan Assembly in 1985 followed by her nomination to the party national executive in 1987.


She was also vice-president of BJP's youth wing prior to being made party vice-president in the state in the same year.

In 1989, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jhalawar, a performance she replicated in all the subsequent elections of 1991, 1998 and 1999.


Vasundhara was made Union Minister of State for External Affairs in the first Vajpayee government. Later, she continued to be a minister in the subsequent NDA government. Bureau Report