Devaragunda Venkappa Sadananda Gowda (born 18 March 1953) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party who was the 20th Chief Minister of Karnataka from August 2011 to July 2012. A lawyer from the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, he led the party in the state when it formed its first government in southern India in 2008, and from 2014 to 2021 he was a Union Cabinet minister, holding the railways, law, statistics and chemicals and fertilizers portfolios in turn.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Devaragunda Venkappa Sadananda Gowda |
| Born | 18 March 1953, Mandekolu, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India |
| Age | 73 |
| Party | Bharatiya Janata Party |
| Offices held | Chief Minister of Karnataka (2011–2012); Union Minister for Railways (2014), Law and Justice (2014–2016), Statistics and Programme Implementation (2016–2019), Chemicals and Fertilizers (2018–2021) |
| Education | St. Philomena College, Puttur (B.Sc.); Vaikunta Baliga College of Law, Udupi (LL.B.) |
| Spouse | Datty Sadananda |
| Children | 1 son (Karthik) |
Early Life
Gowda was born in Mandekolu, a village in Sullia taluk, into a farming family of the Tulu-speaking Gowda community. He took a science degree at St. Philomena College in Puttur and a law degree at Udupi, where he was general secretary of the students’ union and active in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He practised law in Sullia and Puttur and worked briefly as a public prosecutor before resigning to enter politics.
Political Career
He began in the Jana Sangh and held posts in the BJP’s district unit and youth wing. He was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Puttur in 1994 and 1999 and became deputy leader of the opposition. In 2004 he won the Mangalore Lok Sabha seat, defeating the Congress veteran M. Veerappa Moily, and in 2009 he was elected from Udupi–Chikmagalur. As state president of the BJP from 2006 he led the organisation in the 2008 election, after which B. S. Yediyurappa formed the party’s first government in the south.
When Yediyurappa resigned in 2011 following the Lokayukta’s report on illegal mining, Gowda was chosen to replace him and took office on 4 August. His eleven months in the post are remembered mainly for the Sakala scheme, launched in 2012, which guarantees citizens government services such as certificates and licences within fixed time limits and has been copied elsewhere. Pressure from Yediyurappa’s supporters forced him to step down in July 2012 in favour of Jagadish Shettar.
He won Bangalore North in 2014 and 2019. As Railways Minister in the first Modi government he presented the 2014 rail budget, which announced the plan for a high-speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. He was moved to Law and Justice in November 2014, where the government defended the National Judicial Appointments Commission before the Supreme Court, which struck it down in 2015, and then to Statistics and Programme Implementation. From 2018 he held Chemicals and Fertilizers, a ministry that became central during the Covid-19 pandemic because it controls the supply of medicines. He resigned in the reshuffle of July 2021.
In November 2023 he announced that he would retire from electoral politics, and he was not a candidate in 2024. He has since spoken critically at times about the way the party is run in Karnataka.
Personal Life
He is married to Datty and has a son, Karthik. Another son, Kaushik, died in a road accident in 2003. Gowda is known in Karnataka politics for his constant smile and mild manner.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Sadananda Gowda born?
Sadananda Gowda was born on 18 March 1953 in Mandekolu, Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, India and is 73 years old.
Featured image: D. V. Sadananda Gowda addresses a national consultation on gender indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals, New Delhi, August 2017. Photo by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
