R. Roshan Baig is a former seven-time 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 ...

and Minister from South Indian state of

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 ...

. He has also been vice-chairman of the Al-Ameen Educational Society. A seven-time MLA, from 1984 to 1994 he was the member 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 ...

for the first two terms as the MLA and from 1994 to 2019 he was the member 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 Em ...

for 5 of his MLA terms. Baig was suspended from the

in 2019 after he insulted top Congress leaders for the party's poor performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Roshan Baig had held former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's "arrogance" and Dinesh Gundu Rao's "immaturity" responsible for the "flop show". He was also blamed for praising Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

's initiatives for inclusive development. He was elected to the

for a record seven-times from Shivajinagar Assembly Constituency and Shivajinagar was touted as his bastion for over 4 decades.

Early life

Baig was born premature and had health problems as a child. He had poor attendance and failed his 8th standard exam. Ultimately, he passed high school and was admitted to RC College in Bangalore, where he contested his first election, for the post of General Secretary against Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar. After earning a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in commerce, he studied for his

L.L.B Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

. at a government law college.

Political career

Abdul Samad Siddiqui got him into politics in Janta party. He won the 1985 state elections for the 8th Assembly with the Janata Party. After the division of that party, he moved to the

party. As a prominent face in

Bangalore Central Bengaluru Central (Bengaluru Lok Sabha constituency) Lok Sabha constituency ( kn, ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಲೋಕ ಸಭೆ ಚುನಾವಣಾ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರ) is one of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnatak ...

and Bangalore North, he's touted as the face of Muslim community in

. He was an MLA from Shivajinagar which is a Muslim majority constituency with a substantial Hindu population. Baig claims 99% attendance to the assembly.

Posts held

*Minister of State for Home (Independent Charge) *Minister for Tourism and Haj *Minister for Medium & Small Scale Industries *Minister for Infrastructure *Minister for Information, Public Relations and Haj *Minister For Urban Development, City Corporations, Urban Land Transport KUWSDB & KUIDFC, Haj Information & Wakf *Member of the 8th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th

Controversies

In 2012 ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' published news about forgery case against him, in a property deal. He was later cleared of his charges. In 2004, Baig had to resign as minister following his brother Rehan’s alleged involvement in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scandal. The complaint against Baig is that in 2006 he bought a 1.1-acre plot in Begur Hobli, on the outskirts of Bangalore, from Keonics for a paltry sum on the pretext that he wanted to start a small-scale industry. He, however entered into a joint development agreement with Prestige Group for the construction of a commercial complex.

Suspension from Indian National Congress

The Congress Party suspended Roshan Baig on 18 June 2019, on account of what it termed "anti-party activities" after he insulted top Congress leaders for the party's poor performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Roshan Baig had held former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's "arrogance" and Dinesh Gundu Rao's "immaturity" responsible for the "flop show". Dinesh Gundu Rao who was embroiled in a bitter feud with Baig had also drawn the party's attention to Baig's entanglement in the events surrounding I Monetary Advisory.

Honors

Recently he has been honored with the life membership of the International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baig, R. Roshan Karnataka MLAs 2008–2013 20th-century Indian Muslims 21st-century Indian Muslims Living people Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka 1953 births Politicians from Bangalore