Shobha Monappa Karandlaje

Hailing from Puttur in Coastal Karnataka, Shobha got associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at a very early age of her life, one of the many women full-time workers of the Sangh parivar. When she decided to join politics, the RSS gave her the initial thrust. She served the Bharatiya Janata Party organisation in various capacities before being elected as an MLC in 2004. She was elected as MLA from Yeswanthpur, Bangalore in May, 2008 and was appointed as the minister for rural development and Panchayat Raj in the B.S. Yeddyurappa government. She was lauded for her performance as the RDPR minister and came to be known as a good administrator. She resigned in 2009 due to a political crisis but was re-instated in 2010 and was entrusted with the energy portfolio. She was the power minister in the Jagadish Shettar government and also had the additional charge of the food and civil supplies department.