Ananth Kumar, 54, is the senior-most Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Karnataka, elected for a sixth consecutive term from Bangalore South, defeating Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani in a high-profile contest.
Mr. Kumar, a close aide of the party patriarch L.K. Advani, was one of the young leaders who held high profile portfolios such as Civil Aviation, Urban Development and Culture in the 1999-2004 NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Party national general secretary and member of the BJP’s Parliament Board, Mr Kumar is known as a political strategist.
In-charge leader of the party’s Madhya Pradesh unit, he served as the party’s Karnataka state unit leader and built up the party along with B.S. Yeddyurappa.
A law graduate, Mr. Kumar entered public life participating in the Jayaprakash Narayan movement in 1975 and later became part of the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Mr. Kumar and his wife have been managing an NGO Adamya Chetana that provides midday meals to children in government schools in Bangalore.
