NEW DELHI: Diya Kumari, the BJP MLA from Sawai Madhopur and the princess of Jaipur’s former royal family, has finally begun her divorce proceedings with her husband Kunwar Narendra Singh. In a petition filed at the Family Court in Jaipur’s Gandhi Nagar, Diya has sought divorce from her husband of 21 years.
In a joint statement, the famous couple said that they have mutually agreed to go their separate ways. “We jointly state that it is an extremely personal matter for us and hence we do not wish to comment further except, that we have jointly and mutually decided to part amicably.”
Diya is the only daughter of late Col Bhawani Singh and Padmani Devi of the former royal family of Jaipur. She fell in love with Singh, who belongs to a very humble family, and defied the Rajput community to get married in 1997. Their marriage had provoked a huge row as the two belonged to the same ‘gotra’, which roiled many in the Rajput community.
The couple has three children and their eldest son, Padmanabh Singh, was adopted as the legal heir by the former Maharaja of Jaipur and Diya’s father.
Diya entered politics in 2013 and won the Sawai Madhopur assembly seat as a BJP candidate. But she was denied a ticket for the recently-held state Assembly elections.
Sources close to the ex-royal family said Diya and Singh fell out over the last few years and have finally agreed to go their separate ways on a set of conditions which are currently being kept under cover.