Daggubati Purandeswari

Daggubati Purandeswari (born 22 April 1959) is an Indian politician from the state of Andhra Pradesh and

the State President of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Andhra Pradesh since 2023.

She has a Bachelor of Arts from the South Indian Educational Trust and Women College (Chennai) (renamed as the Bashir Ahmed Sayeed College for Women) in literature in 1979, followed by a Diploma in gemmology at the Gemmological Institute of India in 1996.

She married Daggubati Venkateswara Rao on 9 May 1979 and they have a daughter, Nivedita and son, Hitesh Chenchuram.

She is a sister to Nandamuri Harikrishna and Nandamuri Balakrishna, sister-in-law to N. Chandrababu Naidu, niece to N. Trivikrama Rao, aunt to Nara Lokesh and Nandamuri Kalyan Ram, N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Nandamuri Suhasini and Taraka Ratna.

Later she established Hyderabad Institute of Gem and Jewellery in 1997.

She can read, write and speak five languages, English, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and French.

She is versatile in the Indian dance form Kuchipudi.

In appreciation of her performance in Parliament, the Asian Age adjudged her as the best Parliamentarian for 2004–05.

Born to N. T. Rama Rao and Basavatarakam, she did her schooling from Sacred Heart Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Church Park, Chennai.

She is their second daughter and has 7 brothers and 3 sisters.

She had served as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2009 and MoS in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in 2012.

She had previously represented the Bapatla constituency in the 14th Lok Sabha from the Indian National Congress.

She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 7 March 2014 after resigning from the Indian National Congress, as a mark of protest against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh that was favoured by the then United Progressive Alliance government.

In 2014, she fought the Lok Sabha election on a BJP ticket from Rajampet and lost.

Purandareswari was appointed the BJP Mahila Morcha Prabhari.

She represented the Visakhapatnam constituency of Andhra Pradesh as a Member of Parliament of Indian National Congress in the 15th Lok Sabha of India.

She continues as the appointed state in-charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Odisha unit since 13 November 2020.

On July 4, 2023, the central leadership of the BJP appointed her as the President of the Andhra Pradesh BJP.

Her eloquence, articulation and impassioned speeches have earned her the title of the "Sushma Swaraj of the South".

Purandeswari participated in debate on various bills such as 'Domestic Violence Bill, Hindu Succession Amendment Bill, and the bill on the establishment of special courts exclusively for trying cases of women to name a few' and made meaningful contributions.