Jishnu Dev Varma, former Tripura deputy chief Minister and a member of the erstwhile Tripura royal family, was named the Governor of Telangana on Saturday night. He is among the nine new governors appointed by President Droupadi Murmu. A veteran BJP leader, Dev Varma served as deputy CM in the Biplab Deb Cabinet from 2018 to 2023. Even after Deb was removed from the Chief Minister's Office and the Cabinet, he continued in the same role in the Manik Saha Cabinet. Taking to social media, Dev Varma, 64, on Sunday wrote, "I sincerely thank Her Excellency President of India and The Hon’ble Prime Minister of India for giving me an opportunity to serve the people as the Governor of Telangana." He also said that he considers it a recognition for the people of Tripura and wrote, "It is also a recognition for the people of my state -Tripura as this is the first time since Independence that a person from this state has been elevated to this post. I therefore thank both, once again on behalf of Tripura." In the 2018 Assembly elections, Dev Varma won by the highest margin of 26,580 votes at the Charilam assembly constituency. However, in the 2023 Assembly elections, he contested from the same constituency but lost. He was among the ministers who had significant success in several key portfolios in the first BJP government in Tripura, including Finance, Power, and Rural Development. Born in August 1957 to Ramendra Kishore Dev Varma, also known as ‘Nani Karta,’ and Kamal Prabha Devi, who is also referred to as ‘Rajkumari’ (princess), he is often called a prince of the former royal family. He graduated in English from Maharaja Bir Bikram (MBB) College in Agartala. He has been involved in the state's politics for almost five decades. He earlier served as a member of the North-Eastern Council (NEC) advisory committee from 1989-1993, was convener of the Indian National Council for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and was associated with Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) before shifting to the BJP in 1993. In the 1990s, Dev Varma quickly rose through the ranks of the BJP, a party with limited political influence in Tripura. He became a national council member for Tripura in 1993 and was appointed as the party's national general secretary, responsible for organising the party in Tripura. He contested the 1996 Lok Sabha elections from East Tripura tribal-reserved constituency, the 1998 Tripura Assembly elections, and the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. While he was defeated in all these elections, he secured up to a 29 per cent vote share in these elections, which was the highest as far as the BJP was concerned in Tripura at the time. He was not forgotten when the party heavily invested in Tripura in 2015, appointing Biplab Deb to lead the party’s state organisation. Dev Varma remained a senior state leader and a member of the party’s core committee, and when the 2018 Assembly elections came, he contested from the Charilam ST-reserved constituency and won, polling 89.33 per cent of the total votes in the seat. Dev Varma is also a talented poet, authoring books such as 'Children of Water Goddess' and 'Master of Time'. In his leisure time, he paints and sculpts, including wood sculptures, based on modern art themes. Sanskar Bharati has exhibited his art at many tourist places and temples. In addition to his skills as an artist, he is also a fashion designer who incorporates design, aesthetics, and clothing construction influenced by Tripuri culture into his work.
