Bellipady Ramanath Rai (born 13 September 1952) is an Indian politician who was a Minister in
Government of Karnataka 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 region of the
Madras State, now a part of
Karnataka's
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. He has represented the
Bantwal constituency in the
Karnataka Legislative Assembly 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