Annapurna Devi, 51, who was inducted into the Union council of ministers as a minister of state for education on Wednesday, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2019 national polls. She was the Jharkhand unit chief of Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) when she defected to the BJP and went on to win the Lok Sabha election from Koderma. Devi defeated former chief minister Babulal Marandi, a joint candidate of the United Progressive Alliance, by around 450,000 votes.
Devi was the vice president of the BJP’s Jharkhand unit before her elevation as the national vice-president. She was also named as BJP’s Haryana co-in charge. Devi is the second Union minister from Jharkhand apart from Arjun Munda. Another Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is also a member of Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand.
Also Read | Sonowal’s second stint in Delhi ends speculation about his future role
Devi, who was born into a Bengali-speaking family in Dumka, has a master’s from Ranchi University. She joined politics after the death of her husband and RJD legislator Ramesh Yadav. She won a state assembly by-poll in 1998 and became a minister in the RJD government of undivided Bihar. She was re-elected as an assembly member in 2000, 2005, and 2009. She became a minister in Jharkhand in 2013 before losing assembly polls a year later. Devi has emerged as the Other Backward Class (OBC) face of the BJP especially after the BJP’s loss in the 2019 assembly polls under Raghubar Das’s leadership.
BJP insiders said the elevation of Devi and her rapid rise in the BJP indicates the central leadership is banking on her in Jharkhand. “Belonging to a Yadav family, Annapurna Devi could play a crucial role in wooing the OBC vote bank, especially in the districts bordering Bihar that have a large number of Yadav voters. She could also play a crucial role in wooing Bengali-speaking voters in Santhal areas bordering Bengal,” said a Jharkhand BJP leader, who did not want to be named.
{{/usCountry}}BJP insiders said the elevation of Devi and her rapid rise in the BJP indicates the central leadership is banking on her in Jharkhand. “Belonging to a Yadav family, Annapurna Devi could play a crucial role in wooing the OBC vote bank, especially in the districts bordering Bihar that have a large number of Yadav voters. She could also play a crucial role in wooing Bengali-speaking voters in Santhal areas bordering Bengal,” said a Jharkhand BJP leader, who did not want to be named.
{{/usCountry}}A ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader acknowledged Devi’s impact in the Dumka Lok Sabha election in 2019. “... our leader Shibu Soren lost. Though she was new to the BJP, she campaigned in the Masiliya area and actually made an impact among the Bengali-speaking population. Though she did not speak much against our leader, her presence made a difference in the result,” said the leader on condition of anonymity.