The third-time MLA from Kodagu has risen through the ranks
Becoming a Minister is a big reward for Mandepanda Poovaiah Appachu Ranjan, the third time MLA from Kodagu — two times from the Somwarpet constituency and currently from Madikeri constituency. It has come only after treading an arduous path and rising through the ranks of the BJP.
Mr. Ranjan, perhaps, would not have had an inkling that he would be present one day to swear in as the Minister with his traditional Kodava costume – kupya , chale , peechekathi , and mandetuni . He would not have dreamt of this scenario when he was chosen as the president of the Sri Ganapathi Temple Management Committee at Madapur, a sleepy town in Somwarpet taluk of the district in the 70s.
After being active in public life as the member of the Kumbur School Development Management Committee, president of the Madapur VSSSN, correspondent of the Chennamma Junior College in Madapur, director of the Kodagu District Coffee Growers Society in Madikeri, member of the Kushalnagar APMC, he was formally elected as a mandal panchayat member.
Mr. Ranjan’s foray into politics came in 1980 when he was elected president of the BJP youth wing in Madapur. He occupied the post of the Somwarpet taluk BJP president from 1986 to 1991 and later served as the president of the Kodagu BJP unit from 1991 to 1995. It was during his tenure that the BJP stormed the Congress bastion in Kodagu to win all three Assembly segments, others being D.S. Madappa (Madikeri) and H.D. Basavaraj (Virajpet). Somwarpet constituency was done away with during the delimitation after which Kodagu was reduced to Madikeri and Virajpet constituencies.
Comeback
Mr. Ranjan won the Assembly elections for the first time from Somwarpet in 1984 serving till 1999. He won again for the second time from the same constituency in 1999 to stay till 2004. However, he lost to B.A. Jivijaya of the Congress (now with JD(S)) in the next election. Mr. Ranjan came back in the 2008 elections winning from Madikeri constituency.
He rose to prominence by being the Chairman of the Privilege Committee and Petition Committee of the legislature. He served as the Chairman of the Karnatake State Sports Authority in 2008 as also Karnataka Land Army Corporation Limited in the same year. Mr. Ranajn is a member of the State BJP Executive Committee.
A Bachelor of Arts graduate, he was born on September 11, 1957. Mr. Ranjan is known as a progressive agriculturist and coffee grower. He originally hails from Chembebellur village near Virajpet town in Kodagu and is married to Ponnamma. His first son Poovaiah is an engineer in the U.S. and second son Cariappa, a doctor, also in the U.S. Daughter Kshira is a dentist. Mr. Ranjan’s brothers too have identified themselves with the BJP prominently.
His immediate younger brother Shuja Kushalappa is the president of the Virajpet taluk Akrama-Sakrama Samiti while his youngest brother, M.P. Sunil Subramani is a prominent member of the State BJP Executive Committee.
Celebration
Expectedly, the BJP members burst crackers at the General K.S. Thimayya Circle in Madikeri on Thursday to celebrate the induction of Mr. Ranjan into the State Cabinet. Reports of celebrations have come in from other parts of the district.
The BJP workers feel elated that the BJP Government has finally found someone from Kodagu to handle the job of district in-charge Minister.
It had become a custom with the successive governments to depute a Minister from outside the district as the Kodagu District in-charge Minister.
source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> National> Karnataka / by Jeevan Chinnappa / Mysore, July 13th, 2012
