Modi 3.0: Nirmala Sitharaman, HD Kumaraswamy among ministers from Karnataka in new Central government

Karnataka could get five ministerial positions with the shining minister being Nirmala Sitharaman.

Karnataka

1. Nirmala Sitharaman

Rank: Cabinet

Portfolio:

Born on 18 August, 1959, Nirmala Sitharaman, held the dual portfolio of Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs in the last Indian government. She is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party and represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, having served previously as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Andhra Pradesh from 2014 to 2016.

Sitharaman made history as the 28th Defence Minister of India from 2017 to 2019, becoming the second woman to hold the position. She is also the second female Finance Minister of India, following Indira Gandhi, and the first woman to serve as a full-time finance minister. Her political career in the Modi administration began as a junior minister, where she held multiple roles from 2014 to 2017. Initially, she served as the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs and later took on the role of Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry until her elevation to senior cabinet positions.

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2. HD Kumaraswamy

Rank: Cabinet

Portfolio:

Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy, born on 16 December, 1959, served twice as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, first from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2018 to 2019. Kumaraswamy also held the position of Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly between 2013 and 2014. Currently, he is the president of the Karnataka State Janata Dal (Secular).

Kumaraswamy is a Member of Parliament from Mandya and represents Channapatna in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, having been elected in 2018. His political career also includes serving as the representative of Ramanagara from 2004 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2018. He is the son of HD Deve Gowda, the former prime minister of India and former chief minister of Karnataka.

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3. Prahlad Joshi

Rank: Cabinet

Portfolio:

Born on 27 November, 1962, Pralhad Venkatesh Joshi held the position of Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal, and Mines from 2019 to 2024. He has been a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha since 2004, representing the Dharwad constituency. Joshi also served as the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka from 2014 to 2016 and was a member of the panel of chairpersons of the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2018.

Joshi retained the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat which he has been holding since 2004. He got 7,16,231 votes, winning by a margin of 97,324 votes over Vinod Asooti of Congress who secured 6,18,907 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

Joshi first gained prominence with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) during the movement to hoist the tricolour flag at Idagah Maidan in Hubli, Karnataka, between 1992 and 1994. The Supreme Court recently upheld the Karnataka High Court’s decision, reinstating the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation’s ownership of the maidan. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in the general elections of 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019.

On 30 May, 2019, Joshi was sworn in as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s second-term government.

4. Shobha Karandlaje

Rank: Minister of State

Portfolio:

Born on 23 October, 1966, Shobha Karandlaje served as the Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare as well as the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries in the last Ccentral government. Karandlaje holds the position of vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka.

In this edition of the Lok Sabha election, Karandlaje contested the election against Professor MV Rajeev Gowda of the Congress and won by a margin of 2,59,476 votes.

With a background in state politics, she has previously held the role of a cabinet minister in the Karnataka government and is known to be a close ally of former Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.

5. V Somanna

Rank: Minister of State

Portfolio:

Born on July 20, 1951, Veeranna Somanna served as the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Development in Karnataka from August 4, 2021 to May 13, 2023. Prior to this role, Somanna represented the Govindraj Nagara constituency in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from May 2018 to May 2023.

BJP’s Somanna won the Tumkuru Lok Sabha constituency with a handsome margin of 1.75 lakh votes against Congress candidate Muddahanume Gowda.

Somanna’s political career also includes his re-election to the Karnataka Legislative Council on June 10, 2016, securing 31 votes from BJP MLAs. Looking ahead, he has been announced as the BJP candidate for the Tumkur constituency in the upcoming 2024 General Elections.

In his personal life, Veeranna Somanna is married to Shailaja and is a proud parent to three children.