Meira Kumar

The daughter of the late Jagjivan Ram was born to politics, but remains a fairly low-profile leader who hasn't created the same space for herself as her father once did.

The daughter of the late Jagjivan Ram, Meira Kumar was born to politics. But, even though she began her own political career nearly two decades ago, she remains a fairly low-profile leader who hasn't created the same space for herself as her father once did.

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Born in Patna in March, 1945, Meira entered the Lok Sabha in 1985. She became a Congress general secretary in 1991, and joined the Working Committee in 1994. She was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996 and 1998.

Though she lost the elections in 1999, she continued to work in several important positions within the Congress. However, she quit the Congress in 2000, apparently because of differences with other leaders in the Working Committee.

But she recently returned to the old party, and contested successfully for the Lok Sabha from Sasaram in Bihar.

Meira has been involved actively in social work from even before she joined politics. She is married, and has three children.