Harish Poonja ಹರೀಶ್ ಪೂಂಜ is an Indian politician and member of the legislative assembly from

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 ...

representing

Belthangady Belthangady is a town panchayat and the headquarters of Belthangady taluk of the Dakshina Kannada (South Canara) district of Karnataka state in India. Demographics In 2001 in the town of Belthangady, 11% of the population was under 6 years o ...

constituency in

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 ...

. Poonja is the part of 15th Karnataka Assembly. Poonja defeated K Vasanth Bangera, a five-time MLA, with a margin of 22,974 votes in 2018. Son of Agriculturist Shri Muttanna Poonja and Smt Nalini Poonja, Harish Poonja was attracted to RSS ideology as early as 6th year. He went to Balashaka near his village Padangadi in Belthangady Taluk. He studied in Kannada Medium School in his village. His parents still live in the village with their agricultural occupation. He is married to Dr Sweekrita Shetty with two kids. Ex MLA Vasanth Bangera and congress party workers organized a protest outside his office demanding to reveal the accounts for a flood relief fund setup under Harish Poonja's leadership. A team of local villagers from

Dharmasthala Dharmasthala (earlier known as Kuduma) is an Indian temple town on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangady taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India. The town is known for its centuries old Dharmasthala Tem ...

, met with Poonja requesting to not issue any permissions for construction of hotels and guest houses in the temple town since it will lead to desecration of the place.

References

People from Karnataka People from Mangalore Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Karnataka MLAs 2018–2023 Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{Karnataka-BJP-politician-stub