Diya Kumari

Diya Kumari Singh (born 30 January 1971), is an Indian politician. She is a member of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from Sawai Madhopur constituency and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. She is the daughter of the last Maharaja of Jaipur, Sawai Bhawani Singh and Padmini Devi.

Biography

Diya Kumar attended Modern School (New Delhi) and Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls' Public School Jaipur. She later did a decorative Arts course in London.^[2] She manages the family heritage, which includes City Palace, Jaipur that is also partly her royal residence, Jaigarh Fort, Amber and two trusts: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum Trust, Jaipur and the Jaigarh Public Charitable Trust. She also manages two schools: The Palace School and Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School. She is also engaged in the management of the three hotels: Rajmahal Palace in Jaipur, Hotel Jaipur House at Mount Abu and Hotel Lal Mahal Palace, Jaipur.^[3]

Diya Kumari has three children from her marriage to Maharaja (titular-self styled) Narendra Singh, Thikana Kothara of Shivad. Their eldest son, Padmanabh Singh, was born on 2 July 1998 and adopted by Bhawani Singh as his crown prince (self-styled) on 22 November 2002, and nominally enthroned on Jaipur Gaddi on 27 April 2011. Their second son is Lakshraj Singh and their daughter is Gauravi Kumari.^[4]

Politics

Following the footsteps of her grandmother Rajmata Gayatri Devi, Diya Kumari has finally taken the plunge into politics. She formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on September 10, 2013 before a crowd of two-lakh people in the presence of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Rajnath Singh and Vasundhara Raje, at a rally in Jaipur.^[5]

References