Arjun Modhwadia is an

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 ...

politician from Porbandar

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

, India. He was the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the

Gujarat Legislative Assembly Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat, in the state capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from single-member co ...

from 2004 to 2007. He had been a president of

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress in Gujarat. Jagdish Thakor is the president of the Committee. It has 1,862 seats in various urban and rural local bodies in Gujarat. Its office is ...

(GPCC), the

wing of

from 2 March 2011 to 20 December 2012.

Early life and career

Arjun Modhwadia was born at Modhwada, a village near

Porbandar Porbandar is a city in the Indian state of Gujarat, perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama. It is the administrative center of the Porbandar District and it was the former capital of the Porbandar princely st ...

, on 17 February 1957. His schooling was at government primary school of the village. He graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from

Lukhdhirji Engineering College Lukhdhirji Engineering College, popularly known as L.E. College or LEC Morbi is located in the Morbi district. It was established as a polytechnic in 1931, then known as Morvi Technical Institute (MTI) and was upgraded to a full-fledged degree ...

Morbi Morbi or Morvi is a city in the Morbi district in the state of Gujarat, India. It is situated on the Kathiawar peninsula. , the city's population was determined to be 194,947. The city is on the Machhu River, from the sea and from Rajkot. ...

. He became Senate member of

Saurashtra University Saurashtra University is a university in Gujarat state in 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 ...

as a Registered Graduate constituency representative in 1982 to 2002. In 1988 he also became a member of the Executive Council of the university. He worked as an assistant engineer with the

Gujarat Maritime Board Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is a government agency of the Government of Gujarat, a state of India. It was founded in 1982 to control, manage and operate the minor ports of Gujarat. History The GMB was founded in 1982 under the Gujarat Maritime Bo ...

for 10 years. He left his job in 1993 and entered politics. He is married to Hiraben and has a son and a daughter. He is associated with Maldevji Odedra Smarak Trust, Dr. Viram Godhania Mahila Arts, Commerce, Home Science and Computer Science College since 1988. He is a president of Gramya Bharati High School, Bayavadar since 2002 and a trustee of Sorath Kshay Nivaran Samiti,

Keshod Keshod is a town (Now a City) and a Taluka in Junagadh District. History on the name It has been told by many old aged people of this city that the name of the city came from a very interesting incident happened during the Mahabharata time. K ...

; an organization working for

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

patients, since 2004.

Political career

He joined

in 1997. In 2002, he contested assembly election and won. In 2002, he became a member of

Delimitation Commission of India The Delimitation commission or Boundary commission of India is a commission established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Delimitation Commission Act. The main task of the commission is redrawing the boundaries of the vari ...

for Gujarat (Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies). He was also appointed a member of the Estimate Committee. He was the

from 2004 to 2007. He was re-elected in 2007 and from 2008 to 2009 he was also the chairman of the media committee and Chief Spokesperson of GPCC. On 2 March 2011, he was selected as a 27th president of GPCC. He also resigned from the post of president of GPCC on 20 December 2012 following defeat. He again lost in assembly election in 2017 against

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

(BJP) candidate

Babu Bokhiria Babubhai Bokhiria (born 12 March 1953) is an Indian politician and member of BJP. He was twice elected as an MLA in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly in 2012 and 2017. Education Babubhai Bokhiria holds a B.Sc. in chemistry from Saurashtra Univ ...

. He was elected from Porbandar constituency again in

2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly election was held in Gujarat from 1 to 5 December 2022 in two phases, to elect 182 members of 15th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 8 December 2022. The Bharatiya Jana ...

as an INC candidate defeating his nearest rival and BJP candidate Babu Bokhiria.

Controversy

In November 2012, he was served with a show cause notice from

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

for calling

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

, a ''Monkey''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Modhwadia, Arjun Indian National Congress politicians 1957 births Living people Leaders of the Opposition in Gujarat People from Porbandar district Gujarat MLAs 2002–2007 Gujarat MLAs 2007–2012 Gujarat MLAs 2022–2027