Subodh Kant SahayBiography

About Subodh Kant Sahay

Subodh Kant Sahay is a well-known political personality of Indian National Congress (INC) from Ranchi, Jharkhand. He is former member of the Lok Sabha and has also held important portfolios. He was the state minister for Home affairs and Information & Broadcasting in the Vishwanath Pratap Singh regime. He also held the portfolios of Tourism and Food Processing Industries during the Manmohan Singh regime. Sahay is also referred as one of the closest party members to former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Early Life of Subodh Kant Sahay

Subodh Kant Sahay was born to Late Brijdeo Sahay and Late Indrani Devi on 11 June 1951 at Latehar in Palamu district of Jharkhand. After his schooling, he did his B.Sc., LL.B. from Anugrah Narayan College, Patna and Ranchi University. From the student life, he was involved in social and welfare activities and organised several national and state level programmes for mobilisation of youth. He also worked for the upliftment of the downtrodden, deprived and minority communities. Being the Chairman of Non-Aligned Student and Youth Organisation (NASYO),  Sahay was actively involved in the  organisation and took special interest in close coordination with reputed Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) engaged in the fields of health, rural empowerment and development. His wife Rekha Sahay is a famous theatre personality. The couple is blessed with a daughter named Yashaswini Sahay.

Political Career of Subodh Kant Sahay

Subodh Kant Sahay started his political career from Doranda (Ranchi) during the Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) movement, popularly known as JP movement against the then Indira Gandhi government. Later, he also got associated with former PM Chandrashekhar, but later switched his loyalties to the Congress. He was also appointed as speaker for Bihar Legislative Assembly for three consecutive terms. In 1989, he was elected to the ninth Lok Sabha from Ranchi constituency and re-elected again to the 14th Lok Sabha for his second term. He also held the post of secretary, All India Congress Committee (AICC) and in-charge of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand state for two years. Again, Sahay was re-elected for third term in 2009 and was elevated to cabinet rank holding the same food processing industries portfolio. In this parliamentary election, Congress had managed to win only one seat from Ranchi out of 14 seats and only three seats from Bihar out of 40 seats.

In January 2011, he was given the prominent portfolio of the cabinet minister for tourism. He was also member of preparatory committee of World Youth Festival. Sahay also acted as general secretary of Yuva Janata for three years; Janata Party for two years; Janata Dal for six months; working president Yuva Janata for two years and president of Yuva Janata for three years. Recently, Congress party appointed Sahay as the Chairman of Congress Campaign Committee for Jharkhand Assembly elections.
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