Ananth Kumar is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha. [1] He represents the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency of Karnataka and is an influential leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka.
Having been influenced by the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from his childhood, he naturally chose Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students wing of the Sangh Parivar to begin his public life.
As an important office bearer of the ABVP, he became one of the most popular and influential Student's union leader in Karnataka. During the Emergency, he was imprisoned along with thousands of other student activists. Very early in his life, he was elected as the State Secretary of the ABVP and later, became its National Secretary in 1985.
Later, He moved from the ABVP and joined its political counterpart the Bharatiya Janata Party. His first important role in politics was when he was nominated as the State President of BJP Yuva Morcha.
He then, increased his activity in the national politics and was soon made the National Secretary of the party in 1996. He was one of the most important leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in Karnataka.
He rose to prominence when he was elected from the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996. In 1998 he was re elected with a higher margin and was inducted into the Union Cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Minister for Civil Aviation.
In 1999, he was re elected to a 3rd Consecutive term and became one of the most important Cabinet ministers in the NDA government. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation. He did a commendable job as Cabinet minister and was praised for his achievements in the field of Urban development.
He became the President of the Karnataka state unit of BJP in 2003 and was widely credited with the good performance of the BJP in the 2004 general elections in Karnataka. In that elections, the BJP not only won a large number of Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka but also emerged as the single largest party in the State assembly.
In 2004, he was appointed as the National General Secretary of the BJP and has held that post ever since. He is recognised as a good organiser and has handled various assignments given to him with a good track record.
