Background
B. Janardhana Poojary, is a senior politician from Indian National Congress party and former union minister. He was born to a Tulu Billawa family on 27 April 1937. His father is Jarappa Poojary. He has graduated in Professional
B.Com(Madras University) at St. Aloysius College, Mangalore at 1958 and LLB (Bombay University) from Law College, Ruparel, Mumbai at 1960. Prior to entering politics, Poojary practiced law as a barrister from 1960 to 1979. As a lawyer, he was actively engaged in safeguarding the interests of poor agricultural tenants and defended a large number of poor tuluvas by giving them free legal aid.
Political Career
He was elected to the 6th Lok Sabha in 1977 from Mangalore constituency. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980, 1984 and 1989 from the same constituency. He served as a Union Deputy Minister of Finance from 1982-84. From 1984 to 1987 he was the Union Minister of State for Finance. He was the Central Minister of State for Rural Development in 1988-89. In 1991 Lokhsabha election, he was defeated by a BJP candidated V. Dhananjay Kumar. After that he lost in successive loksabha elections to BJP several times until he retired from active politics . In April 1994, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, he was Rajyasabha MP till May 2008.
In 1982, During the Prime Ministership of Smt. Indira Gandhi he had been appointed Union Minister of State for Finance and he continued to be Union Minister of State for Finance during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi until 1987. Later Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed Poojary as Union Minister of State for Rural Development from 1987 to 1989. Rajiv Gandhi also appointed Janardhana Poojary as General Secretary of All India Congress Committee in 1990 as well as President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in 1990. He continued to be General Secretary of All India Congress Committee during the tenure of Prime Minister Shree P. V. Narasimha Rao up to 1996. After Shree Rajiv Gandhi his wife All India Congress Committee President (AICC President) & United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi also appointed Poojary as President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in 2003 for the second time. He continued as President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee up to 2005.
Legacy and Service
He was responsible for the construction of several colleges, schools and temples, including development of the Kudroli Gokarnanatheshwara Temple in Mangalore. He also took active part in construction of Dharmasthala Kanyadi Shree Rama Mandir. He also took initiative in the renovation of Kankanady Shree Brahma Baiderkala Garodi Temple & Katpady Shree Vishwanatha Temple.
Under his leadership many temples, Garodi temples, Narayana Guru mandira have been constructed across Tulunadu which comprises Mangalore, Udupi, Chikmagalur, Karwar and Kasargod.
During his tenure as Central Minister of State for Finance, he organized credit camps (Sāla Mēla) to give assistance to the weaker sections of the society. The politicisation of bank credit policies, led to the creation of significant non-performing assets on the books of public sector banks.The loan disbursal was also undertaken in violation of prescribed Reserve Bank of India norms.
He has brought several projects not only to Mangalore but for entire Karnataka. Some of the projects are Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL), Upgrading Mangalore Domestic (National) Airport to Mangalore International Airport, Upgrading Karnataka Regional Engineering College (KREC) to National Institute Of Technology (NITK), extension of New Mangalore Port (NMPT), railway projects like Bangalore/Mangalore Day & Night Train, Four Lane Highway Projects of about 60 km from Bantwal To Surathkal.