Pralhad Joshi poised for key role in Modi 3.0

Bengaluru: Outgoing Union Minister Pralhad Joshi is all set for another significant role in the Union Cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Joshi, in Modi 2.0, held Mines, Coal, and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio.

Joshi (62) is in close proximity to BJP national leadership and is also considered to be close to the Sangh Parivar. He has been elected for the fifth consecutive term from the Dharwad Parliamentary seat and won with a margin of 97,324 votes against Congress candidate Vinod Asooti.

Joshi is married to Jyothi Joshi and has three daughters. An industrialist turned politician, Joshi studied BA at K.S. Arts College in Hubballi. A staunch follower of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Joshi got an opportunity to contest as the BJP candidate from Dharwad North in 2004.

Joshi has remained unbeatable in the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat since 2004. The Dharwad North seat was renamed Dharwad after delimitation.

He came to the limelight during the Idgah Maidan row in Hubballi, which drew national attention in the early 1990s.

In 1994, six persons were killed in police firing in the state, a development which played a major role in the rise of the BJP in Dharwad, north Karnataka and subsequently in the rest of the state. Joshi was at the forefront at that time as the President of the Rashtra Dhwaj Gourav Rakshana Samithi.

He also actively participated in the BJP and Hindu organisations' which campaigned to hoist the tricolour at the Idgah Maidan. He also led the Save Kashmir Movement.

He became the Dharwad District President of the BJP in 1995 and continued to hold the till 1998. After serving as a member of various committees, he was appointed as the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas in September 2014.

He went on to become the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal, and Mines in the 2019 BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Joshi has also published a book titled ‘Sadhaneya Sankalpa’ in Kannada. He is a keen listener of Hindustani classical music and plays chess, badminton, and carrom.

Joshi participated as a member of the Indian Parliamentary delegation at the 63rd session of the General Assembly, UNO, in December 2008 and spoke on atrocities against women and children.

He also participated as a member of the Indian Parliamentary delegation in April 2012 and spoke on the need for a “Genuine Political Settlement” to the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka.