Senior BJP Leader and Former Minister Ramachandra Gowda Passes Away
Ramachandra Gowda served as a Member of the Karnataka Legislative Council (MLC) for six terms, making significant contributions to the state's political landscape.
Senior BJP leader and former Karnataka minister Ramachandra Gowda passed away late last night at a private hospital in Bengaluru. He was 88. According to family sources, he had been battling a prolonged illness and breathed his last despite undergoing treatment.
Ramachandra Gowda served as a Member of the Karnataka Legislative Council (MLC) for six terms, making significant contributions to the state’s political landscape. During his long political career, he also held several key portfolios as a minister in the Karnataka government.
His demise has evoked widespread grief, with several political leaders, dignitaries, and well-wishers expressing their heartfelt condolences. Many paid tribute to his dedicated public service and prayed for eternal peace for the departed soul while extending their sympathies to the bereaved family.
Ramachandra Gowda had a political career spanning over five decades. Inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from a young age, he began his public life through the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh. He entered electoral politics in 1970, becoming one of the first Jana Sangh corporators in the then Bangalore City Corporation.
He later served as the BJP Karnataka State General Secretary for several years and emerged as one of the party’s senior organisational leaders. In 1988, he was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Council from the Bengaluru Graduates’ Constituency and was re-elected multiple times, serving in the Upper House for nearly three decades.
During his ministerial tenure, he handled several important portfolios, including Planning and Statistics, Small Savings, Science & Technology, Sericulture, and Medical Education in successive Karnataka governments. After stepping down as Medical Education Minister in 2010, he served as the Deputy Chairman of the Karnataka State Planning Board.
In 2017, after serving five consecutive terms as an MLC, Ramachandra Gowda announced his retirement from electoral politics, saying it was time to make way for younger leaders, while continuing to remain active in the BJP as a senior guide and mentor.
