Saryu Rai

Saryu Rai (born July 16, 1951, Khanita, Buxar, Bihar, India) is an Indian senior BJP leader in Bihar and Jharkhand. He is presently serving as a minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Food and Supply Department in the BJP led government in the state of Jharkhand. He is elected to Jharkhand assembly in December 2014 from Jamshedpur-West assembly constituency for the second time after defeating his nearest rival Banna Gupta by a margin of over 10,000 votes. He was first elected as an MLA from Jamshedpur-West seat in 2005. He lost the 2009 assembly seat by a narrow margin of around 3000 votes to the then INC candidate Banna Gupta. Prior to this, in the undivided Bihar he served as an MLC for a six-year term from 1998 to 2004.
Rai is known for his crusade against corruption. He exposed the Fodder Scam in Bihar, which led to jail sentences for many senior politicians, including the then chief minister Lalu Yadav. He also exposed the corruption of over Rs. 8000 crores in the Iron Ore Mines allotment scam under the then chief minister, Madhu Koda.

Saryu Roy was born on July 16, 1951 in a middle class farmer family in a small village named ‘Khanita’ in Itahi Block of erstwhile Shahabad district in Bihar.His father Late Keshaw Prasad Rai did not have formal education and mother Late Sukhwasi Devi was a housewife, not literate at all. He has five sisters all except one are elder to him, besides a younger brother, Yamuna Rai who looks after ancestral farming in the village.

He completed his high school education up to class XI at Block Headquarter Itarhi and was awarded National Merit Scholarship after passing matriculation exam conducted by Bihar School Examination Board in 1966. He is a graduate in Physics from Science college, Patna.He also holds a master's degree in the same subject with Spectroscopy as special paper from Patna University in 1970-72 batch.