Bandaru Dattatreya

Bandaru Dattatreya (born 12 June 1947) is an Indian politician serving as the current Governor of the State of Haryana since 2021. He was also the 20th Governor of Himachal Pradesh and was the Member of Lok Sabha for Secunderabad from 2014 to 2019. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Bandaru Dattatreya
18th Governor of Haryana
Assumed office
7 July 2021
PresidentRamnath Kovind
Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar
Preceded bySatyadev Narayan Arya
20th Governor of Himachal Pradesh
In office
11 September 2019 – 6 July 2021
Chief MinisterJai Ram Thakur
Preceded byKalraj Mishra
Succeeded byRajendra Arlekar
Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment
In office
9 November 2014 – 1 September 2017
Prime MinisterNarendra Modi
Preceded byNarendra Singh Tomar
Succeeded bySantosh Gangwar
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
16 May 2014 – 23 May 2019
Preceded byAnjan Kumar Yadav
Succeeded byG. Kishan Reddy
ConstituencySecunderabad
In office
10 March 1998 – 16 May 2004
Preceded byP.V. Rajeshwar Rao
Succeeded byAnjan Kumar Yadav
ConstituencySecunderabad
In office
20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996
Preceded byT. Manemma
Succeeded byP. V. Rajeshwar Rao
ConstituencySecunderabad
Personal details
Born (1947-06-12) 12 June 1947
Hyderabad, Hyderabad State, British India
(present-day Telangana, India)
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
SpouseVasantha (m. 1989)
Children3
Residence(s)Ramnagar, Hyderabad, Telangana
Alma materOsmania University (B.Sc)
ProfessionSocial worker[1]
CabinetSecond Vajpayee ministry
Third Vajpayee ministry
Modi ministry

Born in Hyderabad, Dattatreya graduated with a science degree. He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1965 and was imprisoned during The Emergency. In 1991, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Secunderabad constituency for the first time. In 1997, he was appointed party president for the state unit. In 1998, he was re-elected and served as Union Minister of State for Urban Development in the second Vajpayee ministry. He was elected for a third consecutive time in 1999 and again served as a Minister of State in third Vajpayee ministry. He lost the Lok Sabha election in 2004 and 2009. The party appointed him as national vice-president in 2013. In May 2014, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from his former constituency. In November he was made a Minister of State for Labour and Employment in the Modi ministry and became the lone minister from Telangana.

Early life

Dattatreya was born on 12 June 1947 to Bandaru Anjaiah and Eswaramma at the city of Hyderabad, in Hyderabad State.[2][3] He received B.Sc. degree from Osmania University.[2]

Political career

Dattatreya began his political career and joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1965. He served as a pracharak (propagator) of the organisation from 1965 to 1968. He also served as state joint secretary of Loka Sangarsha Samiti (Jayaprakash Narayan-led Total Revolution Movement) and was imprisoned during the Emergency in the 1970s.[4]

In 1980, Dattatreya officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[4] He was appointed general secretary of the party's Andhra Pradesh unit. He served in that position until 1989.[3]

Dattatreya was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Secunderabad constituency In 1991.[2] He defeated his nearest rival T. Manemma Anjaiah of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 85,063 votes.[5] He was the only BJP candidate to win from Andhra Pradesh.[6] In 1997, he became president of the party's Andhra Pradesh unit.[2]

P.V. Rajeshwara Rao defeated Dattatreya in the general election held in 1996. However, two years later, he defeated Rao by a margin of 185,910 votes and was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the Secunderabad constituency. Rediff.com wrote that the party won four constituencies in the state due to his efforts.[6] He served as Union Minister of State (MoS) for Urban Development in the second Vajpayee ministry from 1998 to 1999.[7]

In 1999, Dattatreya was elected to the Lok Sabha for the third time. Between 1999 and 2001, he again served as Union MoS for Urban Development in the third Vajpayee ministry. From 2001 to 2003, he served as Union MoS for Railways. In 2003, he was again given the Urban Development portfolio.[2]

Dattatreya lost the 2004 Indian general election. In the same year, he became the national secretary of the party, a post which he held until 2006.[1] In 2006, he was appointed president of the party's state unit. Three years later, he became a national executive member of the party.[2] In the 2009 Indian general election, he lost his constituency for the second time.[8] He was appointed the national vice-president of the party in 2013.[1]

In May 2014, Dattatreya was re-elected to the Lok Sabha for the fourth time from the Secunderabad constituency.[4] On 9 November, he was made a MoS Labour and Employment.[9][10] He became the lone minister in the Modi ministry from the state of Telangana.[9] On 1 September 2017, he resigned from his post.[11] Subsequently, he was made a member of the standing committee on Finance.[1]

On 21 March 2019, the BJP replaced Dattatreya with former MLA G. Kishan Reddy as its candidate from Secunderabad for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He was appointed the Governor of Himachal Pradesh in the year 2019.[12][13]

On 18 July 2021, Dattatreya was appointed the 18th Governor of Haryana.[14]

Personal life

Dattatreya married Vasantha on 17 May 1989.[3] In November 2016, their daughter Vijaya Lakshmi married Jignesh Reddy, the son of chevella parliament constituency contested Janardan Reddy.[15] On 24 May 2018, their son Vaishnav died of heart attack at the age of 21.[16]

Dattatreya has also served as joint secretary of A. P. Cyclone Committee and general secretary for Voluntary Organisations, India.[3]

Image

According to The Hindu, "Dattatreya is seen as the most non-controversial and acceptable BJP leader in Telangana".[17] Business Standard wrote that he is simple, soft-spoken and has a down-to-earth nature.[2]

In January 2016, Dattatreya was charged with abetting the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a student at the University of Hyderabad. Following allegations that he was instrumental in getting Vemula along with four other students suspended from the university's hostel, he was booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.[18] The previous August, he wrote a letter to Smriti Irani, the minister of Human Resource Development claiming the university had turned into a "den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics".[19] Dattatreya denied any wrongdoing and claimed that he had received the letter from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and just forwarded it to Irani with his official letterhead.[20] Other students of the university claimed that his letter was a "part of the larger discrimination of Dalit students".[19]

References
  1. "Dattatreya, Shri Bandarayu". Lok Sabha. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  2. "Bandaru Dattatreya – a simple leader from backward class (Profile)". Business Standard. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  3. "Union Cabinet expansion: Dattatreya joins team Modi". Sakshi. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  4. "Bandaru Dattatreya's political career, profile". The Hans India. 10 November 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  5. "Secunderabad Lok Sabha Elections and Results 2014". Elections. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  6. "The man behind AP's saffron success". Rediff.com. 19 May 1998. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  7. "Bandaru Dattatreya – Lone Telangana face in Modi Ministry". News18. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  8. "BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya to get berth in Union Cabinet". The Economic Times. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  9. "Bandaru Dattatreya: Lone Telangana face in Modi Cabinet". The Indian Express. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  10. "Labour reforms for the unorganised sector a priority: Minister". The Hindu Business Line. 27 December 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  11. "Cabinet reshuffle: Now, Bandaru Dattatreya resigns as Labour Minister", Financial Express, 1 September 2017, retrieved 9 March 2019
  12. "In BJP List, Ex-Legislator Replaces Four-Time Lawmaker In Secunderabad". NDTV. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  13. ANI (11 September 2019). "BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya takes oath as 27th Governor of Himachal Pradesh; predecessor Kalraj Mishra takes charge as Rajasthan governor". Firstpost. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  14. "Bandaru Dattatreya sworn in as 18th governor of Haryana". The Indian Express. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2022.
  15. "Bandaru Dattatreya's daughter Vijaya Laxmi ties the knot". The Siasat Daily. 26 November 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  16. Mahesh, Koride (21 May 2018). "BJP MP Bandaru Dattatreya's son Vaishnav, 21, dies of heart attack". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 24 May 2018. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  17. Reddy, Ravi (2 September 2017). "Bandaru Dattatreya's resignation shocks BJP". The Hindu. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  18. "Union min Dattatreya charged for Dalit scholar suicide, probe ordered". Hindustan Times. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  19. Sudhir, Uma (18 January 2016). "Suicide Of Student After 'Social Boycott' Sparks Anger in Hyderabad University". NDTV. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  20. Janyala, Sreenivas (20 January 2016). "Behind Rohit Vemula's suicide: how Hyderabad Central University showed him the door". The Indian Express. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
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