Renu Kushawaha (also called Renu Kumari Singh), an Indian politician from

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, is a leader of

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...

and a former state minister of

. She hails from Khagaria. She has been associated with several political parties in past, right from

Samata Party The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, is now being led by Uday Mandal as its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of ...

(now led by Uday Mandal its President) and

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. In 2015, she contested from Samastipur Assembly seat on a BJP ticket where she lost to RJD candidate.

Biography

Kushawaha was born in Samastipur in 1962. Her husband is Vijay Kumar Singh who is also a politician with allegiance to the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...

(BJP). Kushawaha contested elections for the Bihar State assembly in 2010. She was elected as a Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly from Bihariganj constituency in

Madhepura district Madhepura district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state, India, and Madhepura town is the administrative headquarters of this district. Madhepura district is a part of Kosi division. History Madhepura district is part of the Kos ...

. Later, she was made a Cabinet Minister in the Government of Bihar, headed by Nitish Kumar as the

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

. She held the portfolio of Industries and Disaster Management and was the only woman minister in the cabinet. In 2014, her son Vipin Kumar was abducted for a ransom of fifty lakh and was killed some time after the abduction.

Political career

She has been an MLA three times and once an MP in her political life. Not only this, she has also been a cabinet minister twice in the Bihar government led by

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...

. In the 1999 parliamentary election, Renu Kushwaha of

defeated Nayana Rana, wife of

veteran RK Rana, by 31,822 votes from Khagaria constituency. Although Renu lost to RK Rana of RJD in 2004 elections. Earlier in February 2005, Renu defeated RJD strongman and then minister of the state Ravindra Charan Yadav on a JDU ticket from Udkishunganj assembly constituency in Madhepura. Again, Renu Kushwaha won in November 2005 by-election. In 2009, she became the Minister of Agriculture in the

Government of Bihar Bihar Government is the State governments of India, state government of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Bihar and its nine Divisions of Bihar, divisions which consist of Districts of Bihar, districts. It consists of an execut ...

. After this, in 2010, after the delimitation of the new assembly, she contested from Bihariganj. This time also supported by her fortune, Renu defeated Ranjeet Ranjan, wife of veteran

Pappu Yadav Rajesh Ranjan (born 24 December 1967) popularly known as Pappu Yadav, is an Indian politician from Bihar, and a member of Parliament (MP) representing Purnia constituency in Bihar. Emerging from a background linked to crime, Yadav transitio ...

. She was then made the Minister of Industry and Disaster. But after her husband Vijay Kumar Singh joined BJP in 2014, she resigned from JDU and joined BJP. In the

2014 Lok Sabha elections General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...

, Vijay Kumar Singh contested on BJP's ticket from

Madhepura Madhepura is a municipality in Madhepura district in the Indian state of Bihar. It stands at the centre of Kosi ravine, It was called ''Madhyapura-'' a place centrally situated which was subsequently transformed as Madhipura into present Madhe ...

constituency. But he had to taste defeat. In 2019, she resigned from the

, as she was denied Lok Sabha ticket from Khagaria. Her resignation from JDU to join BJP was necessitated by the fact that earlier, she along with four other legislators were suspended by the JDU for anti-party activities. She later joined Lok Janshakti Party and resigned in April 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kushawaha, Renu 1962 births Living people Bihar MLAs 2000–2005 Bihar MLAs 2005–2010 People from Samastipur Women members of the Bihar Legislative Assembly People from Madhepura district Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Bihar 21st-century Indian women politicians 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people India MPs 1999–2004 Lok Sabha members from Bihar Samata Party politicians Janata Dal (United) politicians Lok Janshakti Party politicians