Priya Dutt

Priya Dutt Roncon, commonly referred as Priya Dutt is an Indian politician and a former Member of Parliament and has represented the Mumbai North West Constituency. A member of the Indian National Congress, Priya Dutt is the secretary of the All India Congress Committee and she was elected for the first time in November 2005. She contested the 2014 elections, but lost to Poonam Mahajan by a margin of 1.86 lakh votes. As she has a famous family background and majority of the family belongs to Bollywood, Priya Dutt has received huge popularity and attention in her political career. Born on 28th August 1966 in Mumbai, Priya Dutt is the daughter of two of the most famous Bollywood actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis. Her father and mother were associated with the Indian National Congress and her father has also served as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh. She has a brother Sanjay and a sister Namrata Dutt. Hailing from a Punjabi family, Priya completed her schooling from the A.F. Petit Girls High School in Mumbai and then pursued Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Sophia College and later completed her Post Graduation in television production from Center for Media Arts in New York City. She then started to work full time for the Nargis Dutt Memorial Charitable Trust (NDMCT) that was founded by her father in the memory of Nargis Dutt who passed away in 1981 due to cancer. Priya had no intention of joining politics. However, she was a member of the core team and helped her father during his tenure as a Sports Minister. Following her fathers death in 2005, Priya Dutt decided to contest the election on his seat. She contested the election on the ticket of Indian National Congress representing the North West Parliamentary constituency of Mumbai. She won the election by a margin of 172,043 votes and became the member of the Parliament for the first time. She again contested the 2009 elections representing the Mumbai North Central constituency and won the election comfortably. As a Member of Parliament, she has held many positions and has been a member of Committee on Empowerment of Women, Committee on Transport, Tourism & Culture and Committee on Urban Development. The major concerns of her political career include Health, Education, Youth Affairs, and Women Empowerment, etc. She contested the 2014 General Elections but she was defeated by BJP candidate Poonam Mahajan by a margin of 1.86 Lakh votes. Priya Dutt got married in 2003. She is married to Owen Roncon, a catholic businessman who is a partner in Oranjuice Entertainment, a music company. He is also a partner in marketing firm titled Fountainhead Promotions & Events Pvt. Ltd. The couple stays in Bandra, Mumbai and have two sons Siddharth and Sumair. She had interest in being a social worker for a long time and during the Mumbai riots, she worked with Muslim refugees in Mumbai and also helped them. In the year 2007, she along with her sister published a memoir entitled Mr. and Mrs. Dutt: Memories of Our Parents. She continued to provide support to her actor brother Sanjay Dutt during his lawsuit and subsequent conviction.