R. Ashoka

R. Ashoka was born on 1 July 1957 to a farmer family in Jalahalli, Bangalore district, Mysore State (present-day Karnataka). He is the last of the three children born to K. Ramaiah and Anjinamma. Ashoka's family belongs to the dominant Vokkaliga community, which is categorised as an Other Backward Class by the Indian government. Ashoka's father Ramaiah lost a major portion of his 45 acres of agricultural land to public sector Hindustan Machine Tools. In compensation, the company hired his father. This made Ashok focus on studies. After finishing his primary education at a government school in Jalahalli and high school from HMT School, he chose to study Science in PUC at V V Puram College and went on to complete BSc. He being a Kabbadi player in his university days, has represented Bangalore twice.

During Emergency (1975–77), he was arrested and detained in prison along with veteran leaders like L.K. Advani at the Central Jail in Bengaluru. He was first elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in the 1997 by-Elections from Uttarahalli, which was the biggest state legislature constituency in India before delimitation. He was re-elected from the same constituency in 1999 and 2004 Assembly elections with impressive margins. In 2004 elections, he won by a margin of 84,001 votes which is the highest in any Karnataka Assembly election.[5]

In 2008, he became the Minister of Health and family welfare in the Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal (Secular) (BJP-JD(S)) coalition government. As minister, he implemented novel schemes and also streamlined the administration of the department.[6] He undertook surprise visits to the hospitals to inspect and review their functioning. Also, he raided many private clinics in rural areas and tried to eliminate the menace of fake medical practitioners in the state.

As Minister of Transport in the Yeddyurappa Government from 2008 onwards, he was instrumental in modernizing the department and also using innovative hi-tech methods to automate the working of the department.[7]

When Jagadish Shettar became Chief Minister in June 2012, Ashoka was appointed as one of the two Deputy chief ministers and entrusted with the ministries of Home and Transport in the Government of Karnataka.[8][9][10]

Ashoka is regarded as one of the most influential leaders of the BJP in Bangalore city and has steered the party to historic victories in the 2010 and 2015 BBMP elections.[11][12][13]

On 26 August 2019, Ashoka was appointed as the Revenue Minister in Karnataka government excluding Muzrai.[14][15]