JOIN USSiddeshwara surprise choice as MoS
Narendra Modi sprang a surprise when he picked a low-profile MP G M Siddeshwara from the State as a member of his team on Monday. Siddeshwara was sworn in as a minister of state.
Siddeshwara, 62, represents Davangere in the Lok Sabha for the third consecutive term. After Kondajji Basappa of the Congress, none from Davangere has got an opportunity to become a Union minister.
Siddeshwara, a matriculate, is a businessman in Davangere. He is into various businesses, including arecanut. The MP also runs an engineering college. He is married to Gayathri and has a daughter and a son. His father G Mallikarjunappa, who was associated with the RSS, was MP for two terms.
Of the 17 BJP MPs from Karnataka, seven including B S Yeddyurappa are Lingayats. As the BJP’s central leaders decided to keep Yeddyurappa out of the ministry, they chose Siddeshwara, the next senior Lingayat leader. He is close to Yeddyurappa. D V Sadananda Gowda, 61, is a leader known to discharge political responsibilities meticulously. Gowda has held several prime positions in his career. He has held the post of chief minister, State BJP president for two terms and Leader of the Opposition in the Council.
Gowda’s commitment to work is said to be one of the reasons for Modi to give him a top Cabinet berth.
Gowda, a native of Sullia in Dakshina Kannada district, is a law graduate. The Union Cabinet is new territory for Gowda. A two-time MLA and three-time MP, Gowda is known for his friendly image.
The ever-smiling leader achieved his best-ever electoral victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls, defeating Congress’ C Narayanaswamy in Bangalore North seat, by a margin of over two lakh votes.
Ananth, the senior most
Ananth Kumar, a Cabinet minister, is the senior most BJP member of Parliament from Karnataka.
He has won six times in a row from Bangalore South constituency. Kumar is currently the party’s national general secretary and a member of the party's parliamentary board.
He registered a thumping victory against the Congress’ high-profile candidate and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani.
Though it was dubbed the toughest election for him, Kumar had a victory margin of 2.26 lakh votes, the highest ever for him.
Kumar, 54, had served as a Cabinet minister in the NDA government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee. He had held the Civil Aviation, Tourism, Sports and Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation portfolios. He holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees. He is a Brahmin.
At the time of elections, he had told Deccan Herald that implementation of sub-urban rail, setting up of dedicated power plant and bringing a special financial package of Rs 10,000 crore for the infrastructure development of Bangalore would be his top priorities if re-elected.