Pralhad Joshi: RSS loyalist makes entry into Modi cabinet
Bengaluru, May 30: A die-hard RSS loyalist, long-time BJP worker Pralhad Joshi is a fourth time member of Parliament from the saffron party's bastion of Dharwad.
Joshi, who was also BJP Karnataka president, came to limelight as Rastradwaja Horata Samiti Sanchalak, when the party organised a movement to hoist the tricolour at Idgah Maidan in Hubballi that had created a huge law and order situation, and also "Save Kashmir Movement" in early 1990s.
Joshi won the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat by a margin of 2,05,072 votes, defeating Congress's Vinay Kulkarni, a former minister, in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls.
In his long political career spanning over decades, this will be the first time that Joshi will be serving as a minister.
Born into a humble Brahmin family of a Railway employee in 1962 at Vijapura, Joshi was the third child of late Venkatesh Joshi and Malatibai.
He had his primary education in Railway School, high school education in New English School, Hubballi, and graduation from Sri Kadasiddeshwar Arts College, Hubballi.
A member of the RSS since a young age, Joshi was groomed at its training camps. He then got himself associated with the BJP and became a party activist.
Considered among those who are instrumental in making Hubballi-Dharwad and surrounding areas as the saffron party's bastion, Joshi became general secretary of party's Dharwad unit in 1998 and its president in 1995.
He first became the Member of Parliament in 2004, which he has been holding till date by winning consecutive four elections (2009, 2014 and again in 2019.)
Joshi has also served as BJP Karnataka state unit general secretary, and went on to become its president in 2013.
Considered close to former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and late Union minister Ananth Kumar, he took over as state BJP chief just ahead of the 2013 assembly polls.
It was a time when BJP despite being in government was divided internally and faced huge anti-incumbency. Former party strong man B S Yeddyurappa, who had then formed the Karnataka Janata Paksha after quitting BJP, was hell-bent on spoiling the show.
Though Joshi made all efforts to unite the party during the polls, the BJP could not regain power, and the Congress formed the government under Siddaramaiah's leadership, with absolute majority.
In the recently-dissolved 16th Lok Sabha, Joshi served as the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas and also as a member of various committees including- panel of chairpersons, Lok Sabha, Business Advisory Committee, and Committee on Ethics among others.
Joshi had also addressed the UN General Assembly, when he participated as a member of the Indian parliamentary delegation at the 63 Session of General Assembly, in December 2008 and spoke on atrocities on women and children.
He has also participated as a member of the Indian parliamentary delegation in April 2012 and spoke on the need for a "genuine political settlement" to the Tamil issue in Sri Lanka.
On professional front, he along with a few of his like-minded friends, has established a small scale industry- Vibhava Chemicals.
Joshi has also been the Member, Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Hubballi.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
