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Dr Archana Gupta, 58, was appointed the BJP's Haryana unit president on Thursday, making her only the second woman to take the party's helm in the state.

Dr Archana Gupta, prior to being appointed the Haryana unit president, was serving as the BJP's state general secretary. (X/ @bjparchanagupta)Apart from Haryana, BJP president Nitin Nabin also named new state unit chiefs for Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Tripura, in separate notifications issued by the party's general secretary Arun Singh.

Gupta, a radiologist-turned-politician, is the first woman to be named the party's Haryana unit chief in four decades, the first ever state president being Kamla Verma from 1980-83. Former union minister, late Sushma Swaraj, had served as the Haryana unit chief of the Janata Party in 1979.

Born in Atta village in Panipat, she currently resides in Sector 24 in Panipat, and also runs a diagnostic centre in Sector 11 of the city. Gupta completed her MD in radiology from the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, in 1994.

She is married to Dr Anil Gupta, who belongs to Jind, and her grandfather, Dr Surajbhan, was a freedom fighter.

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Gupta, prior to being appointed the Haryana unit president, was serving as the BJP's state general secretary. She has long been associated with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

She was appointed the district president of BJP's Mahila Morcha in 2016, and became BJP's first woman district president for Panipat in 2020. Gupta was elevated to the position of state general secretary for the party in 2024, and became involved in BJP's core organisational activities.

The move to appoint her as the state unit president could bolster the BJP's women outreach campaign ahead of elections in the neighbouring Punjab.

Following her appointment, Gupta thanked the party for the trust placed in her, and said the move was a “tribute” to every woman who had worked towards nation-building.

“Heartfelt gratitude to the Bharatiya Janata Party for giving a new dimension to the women’s power of India. This honour is not just mine, but a tribute to every woman who is continuously working for nation-building, organisational strength, and the uplift of society,” Gupta said in a statement.

She said she would work towards strengthening the party by taking everybody along in accordance with the party's policies and ideology. “I will always remain grateful for the trust and blessings of the top leadership, state leadership, and every devoted party worker,” Gupta added. She said the BJP had worked to give opportunities to women in all fields, PTI news agency reported.