K. C. Venugopal (born 4 February 1963) is an Indian politician who is a

Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha A Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (abbreviated: MP) is the representative of the Indian states to the one of the two houses of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha). Rajya Sabha MPs are elected by the electoral college of the elected ...

elected from

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

and former member of parliament in Lower House and is 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 been appointed a General Secretary of AICC and in charge 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 ...

on 29 April 2017. Later, he was given additional charge of the general secretary of the organization. He was the Minister of State for

Civil Aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, both private and commercial. Most of the countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and work ...

& Ministry of Power in the UPA Government.

Personal life

K. C. Venugopal was born on 4 February 1963 to Kunjukrishnan Nambi and Janaki Amma in

Payyanur Payyanur, , is a municipal town and a taluk, a sub-district administrative unit, in the Kannur district of Kerala, India. On 10 March 2018, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated Payyanur as the fifth taluk in the district. Payyan ...

, Kannur District of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Political life

He came to active politics through the Student Movement of the

. He became the State President of the

Kerala Students Union The Kerala Students Union (abbreviated KSU) is a students organization in Kerala, India. It functions as the student wing of the Indian National Congress in the state. KSU was founded in 1957 at Alappuzha, with M. A. John as its main organiser ...

and State President of the

Indian Youth Congress The Indian Youth Congress is the youth wing of the Indian National Congress party. The Indian Youth Congress was a department of the Indian National Congress from the period just after the Partition of India in 1947 until the late 1960s. While p ...

, He was elected to the

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 28 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 c ...

from

Alappuzha Alappuzha or Alleppey () is the administrative headquarters of Alappuzha district in States and territories of India, state of Kerala, India. The Kerala Backwaters, Backwaters of Alappuzha are one of the most popular tourist attractions in Indi ...

Constituency in 1996, 2001 and 2006. He served as the Minister for Dewaswom and

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

in the

Oommen Chandy Oommen Chandy, , (born 31 October 1943) is an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for two terms, from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative ...

Ministry from 2004-06. He contested the

General Elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Loksabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-th ...

from

Constituency in 2009 and won with a good margin. For Mr. Venugopal,

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

has not been his political gravitational field ever since he politically relocated himself to Alappuzha following his election victory from the Alappuzha Assembly constituency in 1996. His success in the two Assembly elections in 2001 and 2006 and his election to the Lok Sabha in the 2009 Parliament election have only completed the process of his political expatriation. However, he always kept in touch with his home district. The 56-year-old Congress leader, who served as Minister for Tourism and Devaswom in the United Democratic Front (UDF) government during 2004-06, began his political career when he was a student of the

College. Since then he has been on the right trajectory of his political career in his party. From being a president of the

College unit of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) to his induction in the Union Cabinet, it was a long journey for a leader of his age. In between, he served as State President of the KSU (1987–92) and the Youth Congress (1992–2000), among others. A post-graduate in mathematics, Venugopal owes his rapid political evolution to the late leader

K. Karunakaran Kannoth Karunakaran (5 July 1918 – 23 December 2010) was an Indian politician and member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He served as the Chief Minister of Kerala four times during the late 1970s through the mid 1990s. He is the ...

. His loyalty to the leader when the latter was at the helm of Congress affairs in the State helped him step on the political ladder without much ado. Venugopal was also a volleyball player during his college days. He played for the

College and the Calicut University. Mr. Venugopal's supporters say that though he has moved to Alappuzha, he took a personal interest in various tourism projects in his home district when he was Tourism Minister. The Town Square, the renovated Gandhi Park at

, approval of the proposals for the development of beaches in the district, and the eco-tourism project for Paithalmala are some among them. On 29 April 2017, he was chosen as general secretary of

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

. He also was made in charge of Congress War Rooms in many elections. He was elected from Rajasthan as a Member of parliament

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 ...

on 19 June 2020.

Member of coordination committee of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance

He has been appointed as a member of the Coordination Committee of the

Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A; ) is a big tent political alliance of 28 political parties in India led by the Indian National Congress. The primary objective of the alliance is to defeat the ruling National Dem ...

at its Mumbai convention on 1 September 2023. The coordination committee will decide the national agenda, common campaign issues and common program of the country's main opposition alliance ( I.N.D.I.A.).

References

External links

LS Biodata

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venugopal, K. C. Living people 1963 births Rajya Sabha members from Rajasthan Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala Lok Sabha members from Kerala India MPs 2014–2019 People from Alappuzha district Kerala MLAs 1996–2001 Kerala MLAs 2001–2006 Kerala MLAs 2006–2011