Devaragunda Venkappa Sadananda Gowda (born 18 March 1953), is an Indian politician who served as the union

Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in India is the federal ministry with administrative purview over three departments namely: *Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals *Department of Fertilizers. *Department of Pharmaceuticals. T ...

of India in the

Second Modi ministry The Second Ministry of Narendra Modi is the Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 general election which was held in seven phases in 2019. The results of the election were announ ...

from 14 November 2018 to 7 July 2021. He also served as the Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation of India from 5 July 2016 to 24 May 2019 in the First Modi ministry. He is representing the Bangalore North constituency. He also held

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...

and other cabinet positions in the

First Modi ministry The First Ministry of Narendra Modi is the Council of Ministers headed by Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2014 general election which was held in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May in 2014. The results of the election were announced o ...

. He also served as the 20th Chief Minister of Karnataka. He previously served as the

Minister of Law and Justice The Minister of Law and Justice is the head of the Ministry of Law and Justice and one of the cabinet ministers of the Government of India. The first Law and Justice Minister of independent India was B. R. Ambedkar, who served in first Nehru ...

, having been shifted from the

in the cabinet reshuffle of 5 July 2016. At the end of the previous Lok Sabha, he was the Minister of Statistics and Program Implementation. He then stepped down from his post of

ahead of the cabinet reshuffle in July 2021.

Early life

Sadananda Gowda was born in a

Tulu Gowda Tulu may refer to: People * Derartu Tulu (born 1972), Ethiopian long-distance runner * Walid Yacoubou (born 1997), Togolese footballer nicknamed "Tulu" India *Tulu calendar, traditional solar calendar generally used in the regions of southwest K ...

family of Venkappa Gowda and Kamala in Mandekolu village of Sulya taluk in Karnataka. Gowda graduated in Science from Saint Philomena College, Puttur and went on to obtain his degree in law at Udupi's Vaikunta Baliga College of Law. He became active in student politics during this period and was elected General Secretary of the Students Union of the Law College. Subsequently, he became the District General Secretary of the

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) () is a right-wing all India student organisation affiliated to the Hindu nationalist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). History The ABVP, founded in 1948 with the initiative of the RSS a ...

. In 1976, he started practising law at both

Sulya Sullia (also known as Sulya) is a town in the Dakshina Kannada district of the state of Karnataka, India. It is the headquarters of the Sullia taluk. Sullia taluk is one of the seven talukas of Dakshina Kannada district. Its administrative h ...

and Puttur. He was a public prosecutor for a brief period at Sirsi in the District of Uttara Kannada but resigned from his position to concentrate on his political career. Sadananda Gowda has served in the Co-operative Movement in Karnataka in various capacities: * Vice-president of SCDCC Bank,

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

* Director, SKACM Society, Mangalore * Director, CAMPCO, Mangalore (1991–94) * President, Mandekolu S.C.Society, Mandekolu, Sullia * Member, State PLD Bank staff Selection Committee (1989–90) Sadananda Gowda has worked for the labour movement being the General Secretary of

Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (translation: ''Indian Workers' Union'') is a trade union in India. It was founded by Dattopant Thengadi on 23 July 1955. The BMS itself claims to have more than 10 million members. According to provisional statisti ...

, Puttur Division and President of Sullia Taluk Auto Rickshaw Drivers and Owners Union.

Political career

He began his political career as a member of the

Jan Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...

. He was President of the party's Sulya Assembly segment. After the split of the

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

, he became a member of the BJP. Later on, he served the BJP as Dakshina Kannada BJP Yuva Morcha President, Dakshina Kannada BJP Vice-president, State BJP Yuva Morcha Secretary (1983–88), State BJP Secretary (2003–04) and National Secretary of the party (2004).

Karnataka Legislative Assembly

Sadananda Gowda was elected to the

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are ...

in 1994 and 1999 from the Puttur Assembly seat in Dakshina Kannada. He became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in his second term as MLA. He has served in various committees of the Karnataka State legislature including the Cell for preparing Draft Bill on prohibiting Atrocities on Women, Karnataka, the Committee of Energy, Fuel, and Power, and the Committee for Public Undertaking. He was nominated as the President of the Public Accounts Committee in 2003.

Lok Sabha

He was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004 from the

Lok Sabha seat, defeating

Veerappa Moily Marpadi Veerappa Moily (born 12 January 1940) is an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress from the state of Karnataka. Moily was the former Chief Minister (and the first ethnic Tuluva CM) of the Indian state of Karnataka ...

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 E ...

by a margin of 32,314 votes. In 2009, the party shifted him to the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency. In parliament, he was on the Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests. In the 14th Lok Sabha, he was a member of the Committee on Commerce. The Government of India had appointed him as Director of Coffee Board during January 2005. In 2006, Sadananda Gowda was appointed President of Karnataka State BJP. He earned national prominence being the President when BJP won an assembly election for the first time in South India in May 2008. He was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Udupi Chikmagalur Constituency before he became the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

Chief Minister of Karnataka

Sadananda Gowda was chosen as the Chief Minister of Karnataka in August 2011 following the resignation of his mentor B.S. Yeddyurappa in an illegal mining case. Handpicked by Yeddyurappa, he was the second ethnic

Tuluva The Tulu people or Tuluvas are an ethno-linguistic group from Southern India. They are native speakers of the Tulu language and the region they traditionally inhabit is known as Tulu Nadu. This region comprises the districts of Dakshina Kannada ...

Chief Minister of Karnataka after

. As Chief Minister, he strived hard to improve the image of his party that had been tarnished due to allegations of corruption. He introduced various schemes such as Sakaala, aimed at providing time-bound services at government offices. But within a few months of becoming Chief Minister, he fell out with Yeddyurappa and was unable to unite the various factions of the party. In July 2012, he was asked to resign to make way for

Jagadish Shettar Jagadish Shivappa Shettar (born 17 December 1955) is an Indian politician belonging to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who served as the 21st Chief Minister of Karnataka from 2012 to 2013. He has subsequently served as Leader of the Opposition in ...

when dissident activities in the party peaked. After suffering a big loss in the May 2013 elections, BJP elected DV Sadananda Gowda as the opposition leader of legislative council in

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 26 May 2014, Sadananda Gowda was sworn in as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's newly elected government. He was put in charge of the Ministry of Railways. He presented his maiden budget on 8 July 2014.

Cabinet minister in Modi's second term government

On 30 May 2019, Sadananda Gowda was sworn in as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term government. He was put in charge of the

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers in India is the federal ministry with administrative purview over three departments namely: *Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals *Department of Fertilizers. *Department of Pharmaceuticals. T ...

. He then stepped down from his post of

as directed by the prime minister ahead of the cabinet reshuffle in July 2021.

Accusations

As part of the #Metoo movement, a former

BJP Mahila Morcha BJP Mahila Morcha, or simply Mahila Morcha (IPA: Mahilā Mōrcā, ), is the women's wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of India. Vanathi Srinivasan, former Tamil Nadu BJP Unit Vice president and current Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislat ...

member accused Gowda in 2018 of inappropriately behaving with her when Gowda was Karnataka's chief minister. She claimed that Gowda would constantly call her and invite her to meet him at his office and have lunch with him. She also claimed that Gowda touched her body parts and attempted to make physical contact with her in a variety of ways. Gowda said that he was not the CM during that period and said "Everyone knows how I am and what I am. I do not want to say anything about this to anyone right now."

Cybersex

A video clip purportedly showing Gowda in a sexually compromising position with an unidentified woman over a video call went viral on social media in September 2021. Gowda said that he has lodged a police complaint and alleged that the “fake, fabricated, concocted” video was “politically motivated” and said that it was created to tarnish his image.

Positions held

* 1983–1988 State Secretary, BJP Yuva Morcha Karnataka * 1994–2004 Member,

(two terms) * 1995–1996 Member, Cell for preparing Draft Bill on Prohibiting atrocities on Women,

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

* 1999–2004 Deputy Leader of Opposition,

* 1999–2001 Member, Committee on Commerce * 2001–2002 Member, Committee for Energy, Fuel & Power,

* 2002–2003 Member, Public Undertaking Committee,

* 2003–2004 President, Public Accounts Committee,

* 2004 Elected to

14th Lok Sabha The 14th Lok Sabha (17 May 2004 – 18 May 2009) was convened after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April – 10 May 2004, which led to the formation of first Manmohan Singh ministry (2004–2009). Indian Nation ...

* 2006–2010 State President,

BJP 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 Mo ...

, Karnataka * 2006–2009 Member, Committee on Commerce * 2006–onwards Member, Sub-committee of the Department Related Parliamentary standing Committee on Commerce for Special Economic Zones * 2009 Elected to

15th Lok Sabha Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee. Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 44 more seats than the previou ...

* 2011–2012 Elected as 20th Chief Minister of Karnataka * 2013 Elected as the leader of opposition of

Karnataka Legislative Council The Karnataka Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Karnataka state in South Western India. Karnataka is one of the six states in India, where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses: the Le ...

* 2014 Elected to

16th Lok Sabha Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 M ...

from Bangalore North and took oath as Central Railway Minister * 2015–2016 Cabinet Minister-Law & justice * 2016– Minister of Statistics and Programme Implementation * 2019–2021 Elected to

17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started off ...

from Bangalore North and took oath as

Family

Sadananda Gowda married Datty Sadananda in 1981, with whom he had two sons. In 2003, their elder son Kaushik, a medical student, died in a road accident near Puttur. Their younger son, Karthik Gowda, is a businessman.

References

External links

Members of Fourteenth Lok Sabha – Parliament of India website
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DV Sadananda Gowda
* , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gowda, D. V. Sadananda 1953 births India MPs 2004–2009 India MPs 2009–2014 India MPs 2014–2019 Chief ministers from Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Ministers of Karnataka Leaders of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council Living people Lok Sabha members from Karnataka People from Dakshina Kannada district Railway Ministers of India Law Ministers of India Members of the Cabinet of India Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Narendra Modi ministry India MPs 2019–present