Kelachandra Joseph George (born 24 August 1949) is a politician from the state 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 ...

, India. He was a minister of large and medium size industry in the cabinet of

H D Kumaraswamy Haradanahalli Deve Gowda Kumaraswamy, (born 16 December 1959) known among followers as Kumaranna (''Kumar, the elder brother''), is an Indian politician and businessman who served as the 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 23 May 2018 to 23 J ...

and was the Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning. He was previously the Home Minister of Karnataka. He was also the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Transport, Food and Civil Supplies in the

Veerendra Patil Veerendra Basappa Patil (Kannada: ವೀರೇಂದ್ರ ಪಾಟೀಲ್; 28 February 1924 – 14 March 1997) was a senior Indian politician and was twice, the List of Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Chief Minister of Karnataka. He becam ...

government and Cabinet Minister for Housing & Urban Development in the

S. Bangarappa Sarekoppa Bangarappa (26 October 1933 – 26 December 2011) was an Indian politician who was the 12th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1990 to 1992. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Karnataka between 1967 and 1996, bef ...

government.

Early life

George was born on 24 August 1949 to Kelachandra Chacko Joseph and Mariamma Joseph in

Chingavanam Chingavanam is a suburb of Kottayam city between Kottayam and Changanassery in Kottayam district of Kerala state, India. History Before 11th Century, Chingavanam was one of the 28 Karas of Nattakom area which was under the ruling of Munjunaadu ...

, in the Kingdom of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

(now in

Kottayam Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south-we ...

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 ...

). His family moved to the

Kodagu district Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies ...

in the 1960s. He spent most of his childhood there before relocating to

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Joseph and his sons founded th
Kelachandra Group
in 1980. George is married to Suja and has two children Rana and Renita.

Political career

#KJ George joined 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 ...

in 1968. His political career started in 1969 when he was elected as the President of the Gonikoppal Town Youth Congress. During 1971–1972, he was the President of the Virajpet Taluk Youth Congress Committee. #From 1972 to 1973 he was the General of the Coorg District Youth Congress Committee and the President of this forum from 1973 to 1975. #In 1975 and through 1978 he became the Treasurer of the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee. #In 1982, he was the General Secretary of the All India Youth Congress Committee where he served till 1985. He later served as the General Secretary- Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee during and under the Presidentships of K. H Ranganath,

N. Dharam Singh Dharam Narayan Singh (25 December 1936 – 27 July 2017) was an Indian senior congress politician who served as the 17th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 28 May 2004 to 28 January 2006 and Member of the Lok Sabha from Bidar Lok Sabha constitue ...

S. M. Krishna Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna (born 1 May 1932) is an Indian politician who served as Minister of External Affairs of India from 2009 to October 2012. He was the 16th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1999 to 2004 and the 19th Governor of Mahara ...

, V. S. Kaujalgi,

Allum Veerabhadrappa Allam Veerabhadrappa is a leader of the Indian National Congress in Karnataka. He is a former president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. On 10 June 2016, he was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Council. He secured 33 votes of In ...

Mallikarjun Kharge Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge (born 21 July 1942) is an Indian politician, who is the current president of the Indian National Congress, and Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha from Karnataka since 16 February 2021. He became the first person outside ...

Oscar Fernandes Dr. Oscar Fernandes (27 March 1941 – 13 September 2021) was an Indian politician, a senior Indian National Congress leader and was the Union Cabinet Minister for Transport, Road and Highways and Labour and Employment, Government of India in ...

and

Janardhana Poojary B. Janardhana Poojary (born 27 April 1937) is a senior politician from Indian National Congress party. He was a former Union Minister and Karnataka's Congress President. During the Prime Ministership of Smt. Indira Gandhi he had been appointed ...

. #In 1985, he was elected from the erstwhile Bharatinagar Assembly Constituency and became an MLA through 1994. #From 1985 to 1989, he was also the Secretary of the Congress Legislature Party. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Transport, Food and Civil Supplies under Chief Minister

and Cabinet Minister for Housing and Urban Development under Chief Minister

Bangarappa Sarekoppa Bangarappa (26 October 1933 – 26 December 2011) was an Indian politician who was the 12th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1990 to 1992. He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Karnataka between 1967 and 1996, bef ...

. #Currently, he is a State Election Commission Member, the General Secretary K.P.C.C., a Member of the A.I.C.C. and Working Committee Member All India I.N.T.U.C. K J George won from the Sarvagnanagar constituency at the assembly elections in 2013 by polling in 69,673 votes against his nearest rival Padmanabha Reddy of the

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 ...

. During his tenure, the Bangalore Political Action Committee (B PAC) rated him the best among legislators of Bangalore, using data sets available in the public domain (Attendance in assembly, Starred questions, Unstarred questions, Percentage of MLALAD fund utilization, Perception survey, Educational qualification, Criminal record and Social Media etc.) In 2018 Assembly Polls, George won from the Sarvagnanagar constituency by a margin of over 53,000 votes against Bhartiya Janta Party’s MN Reddy who stood a distant second.

References

External links

K. J. George bio in Kannada
{{DEFAULTSORT:George, K. J. Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka State cabinet ministers of Karnataka Living people Politicians from Bangalore People from Kodagu district 1949 births Karnataka MLAs 2008–2013 Karnataka MLAs 2013–2018 Karnataka MLAs 2018–2023