Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (May 2019 – Present): D.V. Sadananda Gowda
Date of Birth: March 18, 1953.
Place of Birth: Sulya, Karnataka. At the time of his birth, Sulya was part of the Madras state.
Parents: His mother is Kamala Gowda and his father is Venkappa Gowda.
Spouse: His wife is Datty Sadananda. They had two sons – Kaushik and Kartik. In 2003, their elder son Kaushik passed away following a road accident in the vicinity of Puttur.
Political Party: Gowda is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Education: He is a science graduate from St. Philomena College in Puttur. After that he studied law at the Vaikunta Baliga College of Law in Udupi.
Career: Before he became a politician, Gowda practised as a lawyer in Puttur and Sulya from 1976 onwards. For a brief period, he also served as a public prosecutor in Sirsi, Uttar Kannada district. However, he soon resigned from his post to concentrate fully on his career as a politician.
Political Milestones: One of the first political milestones in the career of DV Sadananda Gowda was as an MP (Member of Parliament) in Lok Sabha. He has served 3 terms in this capacity.
He won the first general election on May 17, 2004, and held on till May 22, 2009, after becoming MP from the Mangalore constituency. From May 22, 2009 to August 4, 2011 he served as the MP of Udupi-Chikmagalur. From May 26, 2014, he started his 3rd term as the MP of Bangalore North. He has also served as the 20th Chief Minister of Karnataka from August 4, 2011 to July 12, 2012. Union Minister of Railways was a post he held from May 26, 2014 to November 9, 2014. Gowda presented his first budget in this capacity on July 8, 2014.
Further, Gowda has served as the Union Minister of Law and Justice from November 9, 2014 to July 5, 2016. From July 5, 2016 to May 24, 2019 he has served as the Union Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation. From May 30, 2019, he is serving as the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers. He was also elected twice to the Karnataka legislative assembly–1994 and 1999–from the Puttur assembly seat of Dakshina Kannada.
Furthermore, Gowda has been an ardent contributor to the co-operative movement of Karnataka. From 1989 to 1990, he was a member of the State PLD Bank Staff Selection Committee. He has also served as the President of the Mandekolu SC Society at Mandekolu in Sulya. From 1991 to 1994, he served as the Director of CAMPCO (Central Arecanut and Coconut Marketing and Processing Co-operative Limited) in Mangalore. He was also the Director of SKACM Society and the Vice President of SCDCC Bank in Mangalore.
Gowda has also worked for the labour movement in Karnataka. He was the General Secretary of the Puttur division of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. He was also the President of the Sulya Taluk Auto Rickshaw Drivers and Owners Union.
Related Links:
Minister of Human Resource Development: Ramesh Pokhriyal
Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping: Nitin Gadkari
