Renu Devi is an Indian Politician and one of the two serving deputy CMs of Bihar. She is the first woman who has been appointed as the deputy Cm of Bihar. She has been elected as the MLA from Bihar’s Bettiah Assembly Constituency four times (2000-2015, then 2020-present).
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Wiki/Biography
Renu Devi was born on Sunday, 1 November 1959 (age 61 years; as of 2020) in Bettiah, West Champaran, Bihar. She passed her intermediate education from M.D.D.M. College in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, in 1977.
Family & Caste
Renu Devi comes from the Noniya community, classified as the Extremely Backward Caste (EBC) in the Bihar. [1]The Quint
Parents and Siblings
Her father, Krishna Prasad, was a junior engineer in Bihar’s Irrigation & Water Resources Department. Her mother was associated with the RSS.
Husband & Children
She married Durga Prasad, a Kolkata-based engineer, in 1973. In 1979, merely 6 years after their marriage, her husband passed away. She has two children with her husband, a son and a daughter.
Political Career
The political journey of Renu Devi began in 1988 when she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a member of its women’s wing, BJP Mahila Morcha. In 1995, she contested and lost her first Legislative Assembly election from Bihar’s Nautan Assembly Constituency on the ticket of BJP. Thereafter, in Bihar’s next Legislative Assembly election in 2000, BJP fielded Renu Devi from her home constituency, Bettiah. The decision turned to be successful for BJP and Renu Devi, as she won the seat by a large margin. She served the post of MLA for three consecutive terms, till 2015. She was Bihar’s sports, arts, and culture minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet from 2005 to 2009. In 2014, BJP appointed her as the national vice-president of the party, a post which she held till 2020. In 2015, she lost to INC’s Madan Mohan Tiwary. She recovered the Bettiah seat in the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election and was elected as the MLA of Bettiah for the fourth time by defeating INC’s candidate Madan Mohan Tiwari by a margin of 18,000 votes. Along with the victory came a big breakthrough in her career when she was named as one of the deputy CM’s of Bihar by the NDA government, along with Tarkishore Prasad. On 16 November 2020, she was sworn in as a deputy CM of Bihar.
Along with the deputy CM’s post, Renu Devi was given additional charge of Panchayati Raj, Backward Classes Development, ECB, and Industry portfolios.
Controversy
Penalized for “overstaying” in govt. bungalows
In July 2023, Renu Devi, along with several other BJP MLAs who previously served as ministers in the NDA government in Bihar, was fined for exceeding her permitted stay at ministerial bungalows. Despite being allotted houses as legislators, they continued to occupy the ministerial residences. As a result, Renu Devi was fined Rs 1.26 lakh for her actions. [2]News 18
Net Worth
Renu Devi has a net worth of Rs 3.5 crores. [3]My Neta
Address
Sakin, Lal Bazar Near-Power House, Bettiah, District-West Champaran, Bihar [4]My Neta
Facts/Trivia
- Renu Devi grew up around the people of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). According to her, there was a small office of RSS at her maternal grandfather’s home in Muzaffarpur from 1935 to 1972.
- As a social activist, Renu Devi worked for the welfare of women in North Bihar and Champaran district of Bihar for a long time, even after entering the politics.
- In the 1980s’, the Bihar police arrested her during the Ram Mandir construction Movement. [5]Dainik Jagran
- After her husband’s death in 1979, Renu worked at a private company for two years before embarking on her career in social activism.
- Renu Devi has two criminal cases registered against her; however, she has not been convicted in any of them. [6]My Neta
- It is believed by the political experts that the appointment of Renu Devi as a deputy CM of Bihar is an experiment done by the BJP to widen its voter base among women and the backward community.
- She is entitled to Rs. 2.4 lakhs per annum as a basic salary for being an MLA in Bihar. [8]The Indian Express
