Bellipady Ramanath Rai (born 13 September 1952) is an Indian politician who was a Minister in

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

from 23 May 2013 to 15 May 2018.

Biography

Rai was born 13 September 1952 to Bellipady Perne Narayan Rai and Girija Rai in Perne, a village in the erstwhile

South Kanara South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas of ...

region of the

Madras State Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and c ...

, now a part of

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 ...

Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is a district of Karnataka state in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangalore. It is part of the larger Tulu Nadu region. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east ...

district. He entered politics when he became a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

. He has represented the Bantwal constituency in the

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses ar ...

since 1985 until he lost it to his cousin

B. Nagaraja Shetty B. Nagaraja Shetty (born 1957) is an Indian politician who has been a minister in the Government of Karnataka. Biography Shetty joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and in 2004 was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the Bantwal co ...

in 2004. He however won the same constituency in 2008. In his long career as a legislator in the Karnataka Assembly he has served as minister holding various portfolios. He also won 2013 Assembly election from Bantwal. He has been given the portfolio of Minister for Forest, Environment and Ecology. He lost to Rajesh Naik of BJP, by a margin of 15,000 votes, in 2018 Assembly elections. Rai managed to reduce the margin by which Rajesh Naik beat him again for the second time in the 10 May 2023 Karnataka elections . Rai is hugely popular among the minority communities and has alienated himself from his own people that might have finally resulted a losing margin that he could never cover up .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Ramanath State cabinet ministers of Karnataka People from Dakshina Kannada district Karnataka MLAs 2008–2013 Karnataka MLAs 2013–2018 Living people 1952 births Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka