Bommarabettu Laxmijanardhana Santhosh is an Indian politician currently serving National General Secretary of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

from 15 July 2019. Santhosh worked as BJP's General Secretary (Organisation) for eight years in the Karnataka state unit and was appointed national joint general secretary in-charge of southern states in 2014 by

Amit Shah Amit Anil Chandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician currently serving as the Minister of Home Affairs since 2019 and the first Minister of Co-operation of India since 2021. He served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata P ...

Early life

Santhosh hails from Bommarabettu Grama Panchayat, Udupi District in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and belongs to the Shivalli Brahmin community. He studied Instrumentation Technology in BDT College of Engineering in

Davanagere Davanagere is a city in the centre of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the seventh largest city in the state, and the administrative headquarters of eponymous Davangere district. Hitherto being a cotton hub and hence popularly known ...

, Karnataka.

Career

Santosh started as a RSS Pracharak (full-time worker) in 1993. He had stints in

Mysuru Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

, Shivamogga and later in Bangalore. He returned to Shivamogga in the early 2000s. In 2006 he moved to BJP as the General Secretary (Organization) for Karnataka. He remained in the post till 2014. This also saw the BJP in power between 2008 and 2013. In 2014, Santosh was made the Joint General Secretary (Organization) of BJP. In 2019 he was elevated to the post General Secretary (Organization) of BJP. He is someone who is attributed to have spotted and groomed youth leaders such as

Pratap Simha Pratap Simha (born 21 June 1976) is a Member of Parliament from the 17th Lok Sabha of India. He was also a member of 16th Lok Sabha of India. He was born in Sakleshpura, Hassan. He represents Mysore-Kodagu (Lok Sabha constituency)F of Karnata ...

and

Tejasvi Surya Lakya Suryanarayana Tejasvi Surya (; born 16 November 1990) is an Indian politician, RSS swayamsevak and lawyer serving as the Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party, representing the Bangalore South const ...

in Karnataka. Detractors say Santosh wields a lot of control in Karnataka BJP and within the BJP high command at the center. People quote the fact that 2 unknown faces, Ashok Gasti and Eranna Kadadi, were made members of

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

by the BJP in June 2020 much against the wishes of the Chief Minister.

Controversy

Santosh in January 2020 reported that Valmikis, Bhovis,

Waddar Waddar is a caste of Hinduism in India. Waddar, sometimes called Vodra, Odde, or Boyi, is a community from the Deccan Plateau whose traditional occupation is construction. Their major concentration is in Maharashtra, but there are also populations ...

s, and other

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

societies are migrants, not native communities. J. N. Ganesh criticized him and said his assertion was incorrect. The Federation of Progressive Organizations organized a protest, demanding that he be charged under the SC/ST Act.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santhosh, B. L. Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Living people 1967 births