Venur Dhananjay Kumar Alva (4 July 19514 March 2019) was a former Union and Cabinet minister of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and a former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from

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–Ker ...

. He was cabinet minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism in 1996, Union Minister of State for Finance from 1999 to 2000 and Union Minister of State for Textiles from 2000 to 2003. He was also one of the first few BJP MPs to be elected from south India, at a time when the Congress party's reach was at its peak. Kumar went on to represent the Mangalore constituency in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

for four successive terms. Earlier in 1983, he was elected as a BJP MLA from

Mangalore City The Mangalore City Corporation is the municipal corporation responsible for overseeing the local administration of the Indian city of Mangalore and it's suburbs, which are a major urban area and the most important port city of karnataka state. ...

assembly constituency comfortably defeating sitting MLA from Congress, P. F. Rodrigues, even before he became an MP. Being a staunch loyalist of former

Chief Minister of Karnataka The chief minister of Karnataka, formerly known as the chief minister of Mysore, is the chief executive officer of the government of the Indian state of Karnataka. As per the Constitution of India, the governor of Karnataka is the state's ''de j ...

B. S. Yeddyurappa Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa (born 27 February 1943), often referred to by his initials BSY, is an Indian politician currently serving as the member of the Bharatiya Janata Party National Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Parl ...

, he was elected as the president of the new Karnataka Janata Party. He was the

Special representative of the Government of Karnataka to the Union Government Special representative of the Government of Karnataka to the Union Government is the post created by Government of Karnataka. It carries the privileges equivalent to Cabinet Minister in Government of Karnataka. Background Southern States of India h ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Biography

Born in

Venur Venur or Venoor is a small village on the banks of the Phalguni river in Belthangady Taluk, Dakshina Kannada of Karnataka, India. It was once the seat of Jainism and the capital of the Ajila Dynasty. It is on the Dharmasthala-Moodabidri-Karkala r ...

, a small town of erstwhile

South Canara South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas o ...

in 1951, Kumar earned degrees in science from Sri Mahaveera College,

Moodabidri Moodabidri ( kn, ಮೂಡುಬಿದಿರೆ ''Mūḍubidire''; also called Mudbidri, Moodbidre and Bedra), is a town and taluk in Dakshina Kannada district. It lies 34 km northeast of the district headquarters, Mangalore, in Karnat ...

and law from

Udupi Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road. ...

Law College and held a number of influential positions in a political career that spanned decades. A firm believer of the RSS' Hindutva ideology, Kumar began his political career in the youth wing of

Bharatiya Janta Party 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 Modi ...

and later went on to become a Member of 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 ar ...

in 1983. In 1991, he was elected to the

10th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 10th Lok Sabha, (20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996) elected during 1991 Indian general election held during May–June 1991. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India, four sitting memb ...

defeating the Congress stalwart

Janardhana Poojary B. Janardhana Poojary (born 27 April 1937) is a senior politician from Indian National Congress party. He was a former Union Minister and Karnataka's Congress President. During the Prime Ministership of Smt. Indira Gandhi he had been appointed ...

, Union Minister of State for Finance during the tenure of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

and

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

. With the rise of the

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 ...

, Kumar went on to represent the

Mangalore (Lok Sabha constituency) Mangalore Lok Sabha constituency was one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka state in southern India. With the implementation of the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in 2008, based on the recommendations of the Delimitation C ...

for four successive terms and served as Union Minister, thrice in the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

when the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power. He was cabinet minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism in 1996, Union Minister of State for Finance from 1999 to 2000 and Union Minister of State for Textiles from 2000 to 2003. Despite being a sitting MP, he was denied ticket for 2004 Loksabha election from

, instead D. V. Sadananda Gowda was preferred. During Yeddyurappa's tenure as chief minister between 2008 and 2011, Kumar became the State party head. He was known for being staunchly loyal to BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa. After leaving the saffron party with

, a former chief minister of Karnataka, Kumar was instrumental in starting a new political outfit, Karnataka Janata Party. Dhananjay was even made the state president of the party. He was unable to actively participate due to ill health. Kumar died at Unity Hospital in Mangalore on 4 March 2019 after a prolonged illness due to kidney problem.;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, Dhananjay Janata Dal (Secular) politicians 1951 births 2019 deaths Politicians from Mangalore Mangaloreans India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1998–1999 India MPs 1999–2004 Lok Sabha members from Karnataka Civil aviation ministers of India Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Karnataka Karnataka Janata Paksha politicians