Nalapad Ahmed Haris (popularly known as N. A. Haris) is an Indian businessman, politician and sports administrator. He is a member of the Indian National Congress and has represented the Shanti Nagar Assembly constituency in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly since 2008. He was formerly working as the Chairman of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation.

Early life

Nalapad Ahmed Haris was born in 1967 in Bengaluru. His father, N. A. Mohammed, moved from

Kasaragod, Kerala Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala and ...

to Bhadravati, Karnataka in 1960 to set up a metal scrapping shop. Mohammed later moved to

Bengaluru 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 ...

and started working on government construction projects. One of the notable projects was

Upper Krishna Project The Upper Krishna Project (UKP) is an irrigation project across the Krishna River to provide irrigation to the drought-prone areas of Vijayapura district, Karnataka, Bagalkot, Kalburgi, Yadgir and Raichur districts in the state of Karnataka in s ...

. With the money made in this project, Mohammed established Hotel Bangalore International. In 1978, Mohammed set up the Nalapad Group of Hotels. Haris joined the family business in 1997.

Nalapad Group

Haris played a major role in diversifying Nalapad Group's business into Nalapad Pipes, Nalapad Suraksha, Nalapad Infotech and Nalapad Energy. Haris's family also owns Nalapad International School.

Political career

Through the Nalapad family's business, Haris came in contact with Indian National Congress leader

K. J. George Kelachandra Joseph George (born 24 August 1949) is a politician from the state of Karnataka, India. He was a minister of large and medium size industry in the cabinet of H D Kumaraswamy and was the Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town P ...

, who also hailed from Kerala. In the early 2000s, Haris became a trusted aide of K. J. George and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy. This helped him elevate his position within the party. Aged 41, he was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Shanti Nagar in the

2008 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election The 2008 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election took place in three phases on 10, 16 and 22 May 2008 in all the 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka, India. The elections were conducted to elect a Government in the state of Karnataka for th ...

. He gained popularity through charitable work, especially through the N A Haris foundation which provided scholarships to underprivileged children and organized job fairs. He was re-elected in 2013, winning the seat by a margin of 19,000 votes in the 2013 Karnataka assembly elections. He was re-elected in the

2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election The 2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election was held on 12 May 2018 in 222 constituencies to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The election was postponed in Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar, following the death of the MLA B. N. Vijaya ...

. In 2017, Haris' 28-year-old son, Mohammed Nalapad, was appointed the General Secretary of the Bengaluru Youth Congress.

AIFF

On 1 September 2022, Haris was elected as the vice president of the

All India Football Federation The All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the national governing body of football in India. It is a member of FIFA, the international governing body of football and affiliated to Asian Football Confederation. It is affiliated to Ministry o ...

(AIFF).

References

External links