Veteran BJP leader from Karnataka Ramachandra Gowda passes away
Veteran BJP leader and former Karnataka minister Ramachandra Gowda has passed away at the age of 87 due to age-related illness. A long-time associate of B.S. Yediyurappa, Gowda was a foundational figure for the BJP in Karnataka, serving five terms in the Legislative Council.
Why it matters
Gowda's death marks the passing of a first-generation leader who helped establish the BJP's political infrastructure in South India.
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ramachandra Gowda, 87, passed away in a private hospital in Bengaluru on July 14 due to age-related illness.
A former minister and five-time member of the Karnataka Legislative Council from 1988 to 2018, Mr. Gowda was from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) stables. He started his career in the Jan Sangh, the predecessor to the BJP.
Shortly after V.S. Acharya won from Udupi municipality in 1968, recording Jan Sangh’s first-ever victory in south India, Mr. Gowda won as a councillor in Bangalore City Corporation in 1970. He was from the first generation of leaders from the party to lay the groundwork for what became the BJP later. He was senior to former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa in the party, and was his close associate for decades in building the party ground up.
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