Annapurna Devi, Jharkhand's OBC leader, joins Modi 3.0 Cabinet
Annapurna Devi's rise within the party ranks was meteoric, reflecting her growing influence as the face of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Jharkhand.
Annapurna Devi, a homemaker whose journey into politics began with the death of her husband, a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legsilator in 1998, was sworn in as a Union Minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet 3.0 on Sunday.
She joined the Bhartiya Janata Party before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, winning the Koderma seat by a significant margin. Her rise within the BJP ranks, despite being associated with the RJD in the past, underscores her growing influence among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Jharkhand, where she is seen as a key figure in consolidating the party’s support ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
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Born into a Bengali-speaking family in Dumka area of Jharkhand, Annapurna pursued master’s degree at Ranchi University. Her political career began when she won a state assembly by-poll in 1998 and became a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly.
She served as Minister of State for Mines and Geology in the RJD government of undivided Bihar. From 2005 to 2014, she served two terms in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.
In 2012, she was appointed a cabinet minister in Jharkhand, overseeing the Ministry of Irrigation, Women and Child Welfare, and Registration. Her most significant political victory came in 2019 when she defeated Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) by a staggering margin of 4.55 lakh votes while contesting on the BJP's ticket.
In 2021, Devi, once a close aide of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, was inducted into the Union government as the Minister of State for Education on July 7.
Her defection to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was a dramatic twist in her political saga.
Contesting from Koderma on the BJP's ticket, she left an indelible mark. Before her unexpected shift to the BJP, Annapurna was the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Jharkhand chief.
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Her rise within the party ranks was meteoric, reflecting her growing influence as the face of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Jharkhand.
OBCs constitute over 45 percent of Jharkhand’s population, according to the last census—a statistic that underscores her political significance.
Her journey from a grieving widow to a key figure in the Union government is nothing short of a political epic, filled with unexpected turns and dramatic victories.
(With inputs from PTI)
