Irani joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2003.She became the vice-president of the Maharashtra Youth Wing in 2004.In the 2004 general elections for the 14th Lok Sabha, she contested unsuccessfully against Kapil Sibal from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi. She was nominated as executive member of the central committee of the BJP. In early 2010, Irani was appointed National Secretary of BJP and on 24 June, she was appointed All India President of the BJP's women's wing, BJP Mahila Morcha.[20][28] In August 2011, she was sworn in as a member of parliament from Gujarat to the Rajya Sabha. Irani contested the 2014 general elections against Rahul Gandhi in Amethi constituency of Uttar Pradesh.Irani lost to Gandhi by 1,07,923 votes, a 12.32% margin. On 26 May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed her as the Minister of Human Resource Development in his cabinet. Her appointment was criticised by many people owing to her lack of formal higher education. In July 2016, the Ministry of Human Resource Development was taken away from Irani, and she was given the Ministry of Textiles instead, in a cabinet reshuffle. In July 2017, she was handed the additional charge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India) when Former Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu resigned from the Ministry to take part in Vice Presidential Elections. On 14 May 2018, the Ministry was taken away from her and her deputy Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore was elevated to the portfolio. He will be the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.