Cabinet expansion: BJP's Karnataka vice-president Shobha Karandlaje inducted in PM Narendra Modi's Cabinet

New Delhi: Lok Sabha MP Shobha Karandlaje, who is representing the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency in Karnataka, on Wednesday (July 7) inducted into the Union Cabinet in the first reshuffle of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second term in power. 

Shobha has served as a minister in the Karnataka state cabinet and her selection also means a representative from coastal Karnataka is a part of the Union cabinet. 

She is among three woman MPs from the state alongside independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh and BJP's Mangala Angadi. Shobha has served as a minister in the state cabinet and her selection also means a representative from coastal Karnataka is a part of the Union cabinet. She won the 2019 Lok Sabha election with a huge margin of 3.49 lakh votes, the biggest margin for a woman candidate from Karnataka.

Identified as one among the few firebrand leaders of the ruling party for being vocal with her remarks on contemporary issues, she is also BJP's state Vice-President in Karnataka. The 54-year-old originally hails from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada. While she identifies herself as a social worker, Karandlaje is a post-graduate in Social Work (MSW) and Sociology (MA).

Karandlaje was first picked as the Udupi District BJP Women Morcha chairperson in 1997 after which her active participation in the Sankalp Rath Yathra in 1999 led by BS Yediyurappa was noted by the state leadership of BJP. Her close association with BSY is believed to have picked up since then.