Renuka Singh Saruta, Minister of State in Ministry of Tribal Affairs: Surguja MP is vice-president of BJP's ST cell

Renuka Singh Saruta, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Chhattisgarh’s Surguja, was on Friday made the Minister of State in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in the NDA government’s Council of Ministers. Saruta is known as an influential tribal leader of the BJP who defied the Congress influence in her constituency. [caption id=“attachment_6737271” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Renuka Singh Saruta. News18[/caption] Saruta serves as the vice-president of the BJP’s ST cell and represents the powerful Gond community. Surguja is one of two major tribal belts of Chhattisgarh, the other one being Bastar. She was earlier women and child development minister in the Raman Singh’s Odisha state cabinet from 2003 to 2005. Later, she also served as the vice-chairperson of the Surguja Development Authority. The Surguja MP won the constituency by a huge margin of over 1.5 lakh votes, defeating her rival from the Congress party, Khel Sai Singh. Saruta has studied till 12th standard, and has declared total assets of Rs 2.77 crore. According to News18, she started her political career as the first woman president of Ramanujnagar mandal of the BJP in 2000. She later became the Ramanujnagar Janpad member and served in the Samaj Kalyan Board from 2001 to 2003. Saruta is among a total of six women ministers who have taken oath in the Narendra Modi government’s second tenure.