Bengaluru: SV Ramachandra Gowda, one of BJP’s earliest organisation builders in Karnataka and a former minister, died at a private hospital in Bengaluru Tuesday. He was 88 and was undergoing treatment for age-related ailments.A five-time member of the legislative council between 1988 and 2018, Gowda belonged to the RSS tradition and began his political journey with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, BJP’s predecessor. Widely regarded as one of the architects of the party’s growth in Karnataka, he worked alongside veterans such as BS Yediyurappa, BB Shivappa, KS Eshwarappa and AK Subbaiah to expand party organisation.Paying tribute, Yediyurappa said, “I remember the days when we worked to build the party in Karnataka. I was witness to his commitment and administrative acumen as a minister in my cabinet.”Union minister Shobha Karandlaje wrote on X, “Gowda Ji dedicated his entire life to the nationalist movement. He travelled extensively across the state to strengthen the organisation, mentored generations of young karyakartas. His unwavering commitment to the party, public service, and nation will always be remembered.”Opposition leader R Ashoka described him as the ‘Bhishma of Bangalore BJP’.Born in Kunigal in Tumakuru district in 1938, Ramachandra Gowda participated in the Goa Liberation Movement as a student and later worked underground during the Emergency to evade arrest. He entered public life as a Jana Sangh corporator in the then Bangalore City Corporation in 1970, served on the City Improvement Trust Board and its successor, the Bangalore Development Authority, before winning the Bangalore Graduates constituency in the legislative council in 1988. He retained the seat repeatedly.He held portfolios including higher education, medical education, sericulture, science and technology, small savings and mining and geology in successive BJP and BJP-JD(S) coalition govts. In 2010, he resigned as medical education minister after his name surfaced in a recruitment scam, but was later cleared by the high court and subsequently appointed deputy chairperson of Karnataka State Planning Board. He retired from active politics in 2018.His final rites will be held at his private property in Kamakshipalya.
