Priyank Kharge

Priyank Mallikarjun Kharge (born 22 November 1978) is an Indian politician from Indian National Congress and Serving as the Cabinet Minister in the Government of Karnataka.

He is 3 time Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Chittapur Constituency in Kalaburagi District of Karnataka.

Priyank Kharge was born to Mallikarjun Kharge and Radhabai Kharge on 22 November 1978.

His father Mallikarjun Kharge is the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha.

He is married to Shruti Kharge.

Priyank Kharge is an Ambedkarite and a Buddhist.

Priyank Kharge entered into the politics as an activist of the National Students' Union of India in 1998.

Priyank Kharge entered politics as an activist of the National Students' Union of India in 1998.

As a man of firsts, he implemented several schemes for the socially & economically disempowered people to fill the gaps in the sectors such as education, health, drinking water, agro-horticultural productivity, social security net etc.

The Govt.

partnered with the ride-hailing company Ola, Uber and other taxi service providers as part of this new self-employment scheme.

Aimed at SC/ST youth, the scheme provides a financial grant of up to Rs.

5 Lakhs to youth who were keen on becoming partners with aggregators.

This scheme was revolutionary as it was for the first time that the Govt.

linked the beneficiaries directly to the aggregators.

This initiative helped meritorious students with financial assistance to access the world’s most reputed universities and institutions to pursue their postgraduate and PhD programmes.

For the first time, a State Government created a complete 360-degree scheme for students interested in pursuing higher education.

This included the students’ counselling, cultural & accent training, college & research fees, travel costs, hostel charges and a host of other tools to succeed.

For the first time, a comprehensive infrastructure model for the colonies was devised.

Under the Pragati colony scheme, a one-time grant from 50 lakhs to 3 Cr could be sanctioned for providing drinking water, roads, drains, electricity, link roads, Anganwadi and other facilities.

One of the most ambitious schemes aimed at creating more entrepreneurs in Tier 2/3 towns and rural areas,

Samruddhi has the potential to be the game changer not only for marginalized communities but also for retailers looking for newer markets in towns and big villages.

This scheme focused on providing an opportunity for the economically weaker sections to become franchisees of established retailers.

The beneficiaries are given an initial grant capital of Rs.

10 lakhs to set up shop and go through extensive training and certification processes by the retailer before they actually get down to doing real business.

They become owners of businesses and employers at almost zero cost and the retailers have access to new markets at zero costs, a win-win situation for all.

Unnati is a first-of-its-kind initiative that looked towards encouraging knowledge-based entrepreneurial initiative, with the government providing seed money of up to INR 50 Lakhs to SC/ST entrepreneurs who are pursuing technology breakthroughs in the startup arena.

The program provides end-to-end requirements essential for a startup i.e. identifying the innovation, mentoring, validating the idea, providing seed capital and eventually giving them market access.

The uniqueness of Unnati is that it will also seed fund social innovations and inventions that have a major impact on the communities.

In 1999, he became the NSUI College General Secretary.

Later in 2001, He started serving as NSUI State General Secretary till 2005.

He was also the Secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress from 2005 to 2007.

He served as a Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress General Secretary from 2007 to 2011.

Priyank Kharge entered electoral politics by contesting from Chittapur in the 2009 Karnataka Assembly by-election but was defeated by Valmiki Nayak of Bharatiya Janata Party.

In 2011, Priyank Kharge was elected as Vice President of Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress, till 2014.

Priyank Kharge was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 2013 and continues winning elections.

In 2016, at the age of 38, he became the youngest minister to be sworn into the then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s cabinet as the Minister of IT, BT & Tourism.

He has also served as a Cabinet Minister of Social Welfare in the coalition Government headed by H D Kumaraswamy.

In 2018, he again won from Chittapur and was made the Social Welfare Minister under H.D.Kumarswamy led Congress – JD(S) Coalition Government.

In 2023, he won from Chittapur once again, this time pitted against BJP's Manikanta Rathod, and is currently serving the Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology