Hyderabad: Princess Diya Kumari, of the erstwhile Jaipur royal family and a sitting MP from Rajsamand constituency in Rajasthan, filed her nomination on Wednesday 1st Novemeber as a BJP candidate from the Vidhyadhar Nagar constituency in Jaipur. Her nomination has generated immense interest as she has been given the party ticket over three term incumbent Narpat Singh Rajvi and is seen by many as one of the CM faces of the BJP and therefore an alternative to Ex CM Vasundhara Raje, the other princess in the political fray. Incidentally, Raje and Diya Kumari have similar back stories - royal lineage, senior family members had already made a foray and tested electoral success, unsuccessful marital life and have started their political journey with the saffron party and have remained in its fold since then.
Diya Kumari is the daughter of Brigadier Maharaja Bhawani Singh of Jaipur who was awarded Maha Vir Chakra in the 1971 war and granddaughter of Maharani Gayatri Devi, a Swantrata Party MP from Jaipur for 3 consecutive terms and was also incarcerated in Tihar Jail for nearly 6 months during Emergency.
Diya Kumari started her political journey in 2013 when she joined BJP at a rally in Jaipur in the presence of then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, then BJP president Rajnath Singh and CM Vasundhara Raje. She tasted electoral success in her first electoral outing from Sawai Madhopur assembly and followed it up with another success from Rajsamand parliamentary constituency in 2019.
In her first address to supporters and media after filing the nomination, she fired the first salvo at the Gehlot led Congress government, claiming that "Gehlotji won't get votes because increasing crime against women is a big issue in Rajasthan."
