In a significant political move, Annapurna Devi—BJP OBC leader from Jharkhand—was made the Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new Cabinet on Monday. The move is seen as the BJP’s bold strategy to consolidate a sizable OBC vote bank ahead of the crucial Assembly elections later this year.
A two-time member of parliament, Annapurna Devi defeated the CPI-ML candidate VK Singh by 3.77 lakh votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election and retained the Koderma Lok Sabha constituency in Jharkhand.
Earlier in 2021, she served as the Union Minister of State for Education in the Modi government.
Her political journey started in 1998, when her husband, Ramesh Yadav, an RJD legislator, died suddenly. She contested the by-poll for the seat vacated by her husband's death and became a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. Later, she served as Minister of State, Ministry of Mines and Geology in the RJD government of then-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 & Child Welfare, and Registration.
In 2019, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, she joined the BJP and defeated Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) by a staggering margin of 4.55 lakh votes. This triumph was not just personal but also a testament to the intense campaigning by PM Modi and top BJP leaders.
Her meteoric rise within the party ranks reflected her growing influence as the face of the OBCs in Jharkhand. According to the last census, OBCs constitute over 45% of Jharkhand’s population, a statistic that underscores her political significance.
Born on February 2, 1970, into a Bengali-speaking family in Jharkhand's Dumka, she pursued her master’s degree at Ranchi University.
