Laxmi Kanta Chawla
National Executive member
One of the senior-most politicians in Punjab, Laxmi Kanta Chawla was the only woman candidate to be fielded by the BJP in the last assembly election. A former college lecturer with an RSS background from Amritsar, Chawla is Health Minister in the SAD-BJP Government. Known for her no-nonsense, corruption-free image, she actively worked for Hindu-Sikh amity in Punjab’s darkest hour. An associate says she likes to be known as a “no-sifarish” minister (who doesn’t entertain requests for political favours).

Bhavnaben Dave
National Executive member
A former Mayor of Ahmedabad, Dave has held various positions in the state BJP. A career teacher, she believes that “spiritual gurus like Morari Bapu have succeeded where the psychiatrists and psychologists have failed” in bringing peace and order to distressed souls in urban India in the throes of rapid changes. She’s also a former MP, but couldn’t win in her second attempt.

Premlata Katiyar
National Executive member
Premlata Katiyar has been a minister in governments in Uttar Pradesh headed by Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh and even Mayawati (when the BSP had a tie-up with the BJP). Representing Kanpur’s Kalyanpur Assembly seat (under which IIT-Kanpur falls) continuously since 1991, this sexagenarian Kurmi leader has no connection with the other Katiyar that the UP BJP has produced. While Vinay Katiyar is known more for his hardline Hindutva, Premlata’s association with the BJP began with the anti-Emergency movement. Her daughter, Neelima, is now an office-bearer in the state Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

Sudha Malaya
National Executive member
A former member of the National Commission for Women, she’s also an art historian from Madhya Pradesh. The academic, who participated in the Ramjanmabhoomi agitation, has worked with historians sympathetic to the RSS “to prove the existence of a temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya”.

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