Priyank Kharge

Some Lesser Known Facts About Priyank Kharge

• Priyank Kharge is an Indian politician and member of the Indian National Congress (INC). He was twice elected as the MLA from the Chittapur Assembly constituency, in 2013 and 2018. He is the son of Mallikarjun Kharge.

• Priyank Kharge entered politics in 1998 as an activist of the National Student Union of India (NSUI). He was appointed as NSUI College General Secretary in 1991. From 2005 to 2007, he served as NSUI General Secretary of the Karnataka unit.

• He has served as the Vice President of the Karnataka unit of the Youth Congress for one term. Later, he unsuccessfully contested for the post of president of the State unit of the Youth Congress against Rizwan Arshad.

• In 2016, he became the youngest minister to be sworn into Siddaramaiah’s cabinet.

• In 2011, Priyank Kharge’s sister Priyadarshini came into the spotlight for availing a site in the judicial layout. She was not eligible to purchase this land as she is a doctor by profession and the land was reserved for judicial employees. Apparently, she purchased site number 1,448 in Yelahanka (Allalasandra), a suburb of Bangalore on 15 January 2002 for Rs 1,96,837 (while the market value ran in crores). By availing the land, measuring 3,280 sq ft, she would have violated Clause-10 of the Model Bye-laws of HBCSs which deals with the rights of members. Clause-10(B) says: “He/she in the case of Employee House Building Society is an employee of the organisation for which the society has been organised and has put in a minimum continuous or intermittent service of five years in Karnataka.” However, in light of the allegations, she returned the land in question to the Karnataka State Judicial Department Employees House Building Co-operative Society (KSJDEHBCS) in 2011. ^[11]Moneycontrol

• Dr. B. R. Ambedkar School of Economics University, Bengaluru, which was established in 2017,  is Kharge’s brainchild.