JAIPUR: BJP leader Diya Kumari, who was elected deputy chief minister of Rajasthan along with Prem Chand Bairwa, is a member of erstwhile Jaipur royal family and a two-time MLA. Bairwa is the first-time MLA and a Dalit face in the BJP.
The 54-year-old won the Dudu constituency in the November 25 state assembly elections. Diya Kumari, who was MP from Rajsamand, is a Rajput face in the party.
She won Jaipur's Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency with a margin of 71,368 votes.
The 51-year-old BJP leader became MLA for the first time in 2013 from Sawai Madhopur. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, she was elected as MP.
Diya Kumari is the daughter of erstwhile Jaipur Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh, who earned distinction in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 as a Lieutenant Colonel and Commanding Officer of the Para Commandos of the 10th Parachute Regiment.
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.
Bairwa, who defeated Congress' Babu Lal Nagar by a margin of 35,743 votes, is PhD from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.
At the BJP's legislature party meeting, five-time MLA Vasudev Devnani was declared the speaker of the state assembly.
Devnani, who represents Ajmer South constituency, is a former minister.
He is an engineering graduate and before entering politics, he was a lecturer in government polytechnic college in Udaipur.
The 73-year-old leader, who has teaching experience of 30 years, joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1968 and held several positions.
He was elected as MLA for the first time in 2003 from Ajmer West seat.
He was MLA from Ajmer North from 2008 to 13, and again from 2013 to 2018.
Devnani, who has RSS-backing, was minister of state (independent charge) for primary, secondary education and language department from 2014 to 2018.
During his tenure as MoS education, changes in school syllabus to include personalities like Maharana Pratap, Veer Sawarkar, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Sardar Patel, and APJ Abdul Kalam were made.