D.V. Sadananda Gowda
The 66-year-old Vokkaliga leader is the senior-most politician among all the MPs from Karnataka. He has served as the 20th CM as well as State President of the BJP. It was during his tenure as Party President that the BJP came to power in Karnataka, a first in the southern region. A second time MP from Bengaluru North, Gowda was earlier elected as MP from Dakshina Kannada twice. He was born in 1953 to Venkappa Gowda and Kamala in Mandekolu village in Sullia town in Dakshina Kannada. He has served as an MLA twice and as an MLC once besides being elected to the Lok Sabha for the fourth time. He has held the portfolios of Railways, Law and Social Justice, and Statistics and Programme Implementation in the previous Cabinet.
