MANGALURU: Two-time Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Shobha Karandlaje’s induction into the Union council of ministers will bring her to the forefront of Karnataka politics once again after a gap of seven years. By replacing D V Sadananda Gowda, a fellow Vokkaliga, in the cabinet, 54-year-old Shobha will be one of the prominent Vokkaliga faces of the BJP to take on KPCC president D K Shivakumar and former chief minister and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy.
Soon after her first election as MLA from Yeshwantpur in 2008, she had emerged as one of the important ministers in the first BJP government headed by B S Yediyurappa and later on by Jagadish Shetter, holding important portfolios like RDPR and Energy. But after she returned to BJP from KJP in 2014 along with Yediyurappa and became Lok Sabha MP, she did not get much prominence in the state politics and was mostly confined to Udupi-Chikkamagaluru. Sources said she had made a strong bid to return to state politics during the last Assembly election, but her attempts were thwarted by party leaders opposed to Yediyurappa.
“In 2019, many within the party tried to ensure that she misses the ticket to contest again from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru by foisting false accusations that she is rarely found in her constituency, but they didn’t succeed in their plan. There were constant efforts to cut her to size and it became more intense after Nalin Kumar Kateel became the party’s state president,” said a close confidante of Shobha.
As a Union minister now, Shobha, who hails from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada, is likely to regain her control over the party in the coastal region along with Old Mysuru and Malnad where she enjoys significant clout as a Vokkaliga leader. The people of Mysuru still remember her achievements as district minister. Dakshina Kannada BJP chief M Sudarshan said they can now expect her to bring a lot of development to the region.
Shobha Karandlaje (54)
Dakshina Kannada
2nd term Lok Sabha MP from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru
Was Minister in Karnataka Government with portfolios of Food and Civil Supplies, Power, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj
MA in Sociology from Mangalore University
Quit BJP in 2013 along with B S Yediyurappa and rejoined in 2014
Replaces DVS as Vokkaliga face in the cabinet