Rita Bahuguna Joshi

Rita Bahuguna Joshi is the daughter of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Kamala Bahuguna, who was an ex-MP. She completed her MA and did her PhD in History. She is also a professor in Medieval and Modern History at the University of Allahabad. She forayed into politics in 1995 by becoming the mayor of Allahabad. She is currently the cabinet minister in the Government of Uttar Pradesh. She was the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee from 2007 to 2012. On 20 October 2016, she joined Bharatiya Janata Party. She was with the Indian National Congress for 24 years before leaving the party. She contested in elections to the Lok Sabha twice but couldn't manage to win both times. In the 2012 state elections, she was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Lucknow Cantonment. She tied the knot with P C Joshi, a mechanical engineer from Patrice Lumumba University. The couple has a son, Mayank Joshi.