From princess who walks on the streets to deputy CM: The rise and rise of Diya Kumari

After much speculation and conjecture, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surprised one and all on Tuesday (13 December) when it announced Bhajan Lal Sharma, a first-time MLA, as its choice for Rajasthan chief minister. Simultaneously, the party also announced that Diya Kumari and Premchand Bairwa would be the deputy chief ministers.

Among all the names and announcements, perhaps, Kumari’s name was the least surprising as she is a rising star in the state. Moreover, her name was also doing the rounds as potential chief ministerial candidate shortly after the BJP wrested power from the Congress in the recently-concluded Assembly elections.

Speaking to reporters, Kumari told the media that the BJP government would work to make Rajasthan a developed state, and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party high command for making her deputy chief minister.

Also read: Why has BJP picked new CM faces in Hindi heartland?

We take a closer look at the rise of Diya Kumari – from palace to politics.

She’s royalty

Princess Diya Kumari, 52, is a member of the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur. She is the granddaughter of Man Singh II, the last ruling maharaja of the princely state of Jaipur, and the daughter of Sawai Bhawani Singh, who earned distinction in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war as a lieutenant colonel and the commanding officer of the Para Commandos of the 10th Parachute Regiment.

She is a graduate in fine arts and design skills and holds a diploma in those subjects from London.

She is also associated with several non-government organisations, including the Eye Bank Society of Rajasthan, and Rays, an NGO working for HIV+ children, of which she is the patron. She was also elected to serve as a member of the government’s National Tiger Conservation in 2019.

The combination of belonging to royalty and yet having a down to earth persona has earned her the name of “daughter of Jaipur” and the “princess who walks on the streets”. In fact, it is this image that has helped made her popular in the state and popular with the people.

Rise in politics

Kumari made her foray into politics in 2013 and joined the BJP. Interestingly, it was former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje who was instrumental in Kumari’s entrance into politics. Kumari joined the BJP at a rally in her presence, then BJP president Rajnath Singh and current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who at the time was the Gujarat CM.

In that very year, she contested from the Sawai Madhopur Assembly constituency and was pitted against both the Congress’s Danish Abrar and veteran tribal leader Kirodi Lal Meena, who contested on a ticket of the National People’s Party (NPP). Kumari defeated her experienced rivals to win Sawai Madhopur.

Later during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she contested from Rajsamand and was elected MP with one of the biggest victory margins of 5.51 lakh votes.

In the 2023 Assembly elections, she won the polls from the Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency after defeating Congress candidate Sitaram Agarwal.

During her campaign for the Assembly polls, the 52-year-old made a pitch for the environment, education, healthcare, and women’s empowerment.

The second ‘Raje’

As Kumari makes strides in politics, many have kept comparing her to party veteran Vasundhara Raje.

However, her relations with Raje are fraught with tensions and they can be dated back to 2016. It was then that Kumari and the erstwhile royal family of Jaipur sparred with the Raje-led state government after Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) officials sealed the gates of the family-owned Rajmahal Palace hotel during an anti-encroachment drive.

Images of the confrontation between Kumari and government officials during the sealing exercise made it to newspaper front pages and the incident drove a wedge between Raje and her.

In fact, earlier when asked how she would feel if she was ignored for the chief minister’s post due to her alleged conflict with former CM Vasundhara Raje, she had responded by saying that she “didn’t want to comment on such things”.

#WATCH | When asked about speculations that she was not given the CM post due to her reported conflict with former CM Vasundhara Raje, Rajasthan Deputy CM-designate Diya Kumari says, “I don’t comment on such things. All of us have worked together. She was there too, I received… pic.twitter.com/dil0H6cPRJ

— ANI (@ANI) December 12, 2023

“I don’t comment on such things. All of us have worked together. She was there too, I received her blessings too,” Kumari said.

Notably, she has kept mum on the apparent strife with Raje and has never commented publicly on any other state BJP leader. She has focused on increasing the importance within the party, finding place in the party’s state executive as a general secretary, addressing press conferences against the Congress government, and leading protests.

And it seems that her efforts have finally borne fruit.

With inputs from agencies