NEW DELHI: Stepping into the shoes of stalwart L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj acquired a high profile a decade back when she contested against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in Bellary in Karnataka and once threatened to shave her head.
Sushma(58), who sticks to her familiar wide-bordered saris plus her trademark big red bindi and sindoor and a smile that never slips, has carved a niche in the saffron party with effective presentation of her views both inside and outside Parliament.
Married to Swaraj Kaushal, a former Mizoram Governor, the mercurial politician has never hidden her dislike for Sonia, who beat her in Bellary during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. But despite her loss, Sushma has steadily moved up the party hierarchy.
In a heavily publicized and emotionally charged episode following the 2004 elections when the Congress was set to form the government, Sushma threatened to shave her head, don a white saree and eat groundnuts (symbollically mourning) if Sonia, the Italian-born Congress leader, became Prime Minister.
A prominent woman politician, Swaraj is the first woman Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha when the Congress or alliances led by it was in power.