Karnataka cabinet: Priyank Kharge's profile

Name : Priyank Kharge

Portfolio: Social Welfare

Party : Congress

Age : 22 November 1978 (age 39 years),

Spouse : Shruthi P. Kharge

Birth place: Bengaluru

Father : Mallikarjun Kahrge

Mother : Radhabai Kharge

Education: BA/ Diploma in Computer Science

Profession: Business

Priyank Kharge's political journey:

• Priyank Kharge entered politics as a Student activist of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI).
• He was NSUI member, State Secretary in charge of Bengaluru City.
• He progressively moved on to Youth Congress as a member, before becoming the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Secretary under Dinesh Gundu Rao, who was the KPYCC President.
• Later, he was promoted as General Secretary in KPYCC and served 3 Presidents ( Dinesh Gundu Rao, Sadanand Danganavvar, Krishna Byre Gowda). He was then elected democratically as the Vice President of Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee with Rizwan Arshad as the President.
• He contested from the Chittapur Assembly bye-elections in 2008 in which he narrowly lost by 1600 votes to the ruling party.
• Won the Chittapur Assembly in 2013 Assembly Election by over 30000 votes.
• In Siddarmaiah's Cabinet he held the Information Technology and Bio-Technology, Science and Technology Department and the Tourism Department with Independent Charge
• Priyank has also played a very significant role in ensuring the amendment of Article 371 (J) for the people of Hyderabad Karnataka. He has been credited to drafting the proposed amendment before presenting it to the parliament and also credited to its implementation after the bill was passed.