Four-time MP from Karnataka’s Belagavi, Suresh Channabasappa Angadi was inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Thursday. He was allotted the Ministry of State under Ministry of Railways portfolio. An educationist and a staunch BJP loyalist, Suresh Angadi became a strongman in Belagavi ever since he was made the party’s district President in 2001.
He first contested elections in 2004 from the Belagavi segment and was re-elected in 2009, 2014 and in 2019. When Angadi won a hattrick in 2014, he was an aspirant for a Union cabinet berth. However, the BJP national high command did not approve his name.
He, however, has served in various parliamentary committees. Between 2004 to 2009, Suresh Aangadi was a member of the Standing Committee for Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution. He later went on to serve in the Standing Committee on Human Resource Development between 2009-2014. He was also the member of the Joint Committee on Pension and Salaries and allowances of MPs and the Advisory Committee on Central Direct Taxes during the same period.
He has served as the Chairperson of the Committee on House since 2016. As an educationist, he started the Suresh Angadi Education Foundation in 2008. The foundation has started several schools and colleges in Belagavi district including the Angadi International School, Angadi College of Commerce and Science, Angadi Institute of Technology and Management and Angadi School of Architecture.
A Lingayat strongman from Belagavi, Suresh Angadi also runs the Angadi Sugars and Power Limited, which is involved in manufacturing sugar along with processing of meat, fruits and vegetables.
Angadi was given the ticket to contest Lok Sabha polls despite several top BJP leaders standing in line. His candidacy was pushed by BJP state President BS Yeddyurappa as Angadi. Prior to the 2009 elections, Angadi was considered a staunch loyalist of Yeddyurappa. However, when Yeddyurappa formed the Karnataka Janata Paksha in 2012, Suresh Angadi had refused to leave the BJP and support Yeddyurappa.
In 2014, when KJP was dissolved, Suresh Angadi had, however, played a pivotal role in recommending to his party men that Yeddyurappa must be brought back into the BJP’s fold. He is also one of Yeddyurappa’s key conspirators in Operation Lotus – the plot to poach ruling coalition MLAs and bring down the government. When Yeddyurappa announced that the state government would definitely fall in the coming days on May 23, Angadi had his back and had proclaimed that Operation Lotus would begin in Belagavi.