US grad’s political plunge: From realty to real interest in politics

City-born Electronics and Communication engineer Dheeraj Muniraju is one of the youngest MLAs to get elected this time. Dheeraj, 32, is now the BJP MLA representing Doddaballpur.

Dheeraj was born to P Muniraju and K Sujatha in Bengaluru. The couple run a pharmaceutical shop in the city and are agriculturists too. He belongs to the Yadava community.

He did his engineering course from RV College of Engineering and pursued Master of Science in Industrial Management from Texas A&M University in the US.

Though Dheeraj took his primary membership of BJP in 2011, on his parents' insistence, he focused on completing his engineering and masters. After completing his education, Dheeraj worked as a manager at a real estate services and investment firm in Bengaluru.

'Strengthening PM's hands'

“Finally, I left the well-paying job as I could not resist taking a plunge into politics. It was my dream to strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in bringing a sea change in the country's progress,” Dheeraj told DH.

He added that it was not easy to convince his parents, but they relented finally. By this time, Dheeraj had established a small real estate firm.

Before taking plunge into politics, he became very active in his community’s (Yadava) association.

Presently, he is the state unit president of Yadava Sangha. He joined BJP Yuva Morcha and was appointed as its vice-president.

Setting his eyes to become MLA, he launched philanthropic works through Anjanadri Welfare Trust during Covid-19 pandemic. His trust worked extensively with poor and downtrodden of the constituency.

Based on his work, he sought ticket from Doddaballapur and BJP fielded him as part of its experiment to bring in fresh faces. He is one of the 14 new BJP candidates who won the elections.