Bengaluru, Jun 9 (IANS): Senior BJP leader from Karnataka, Pralhad Joshi (62), was sworn in as a Union Minister on Sunday during the oath taking ceremony of the third term of the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In the previous government, Joshi held the Mines, Coal, and Parliamentary Affairs portfolios.

Joshi, who shares a close proximity with the BJP's central leadership, is also considered to be close to the Sangh Parivar.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, he was elected for the fifth straight term from Dharwad in Karnataka after defeating Congress' Vinod Asooti by 97,324 votes.

Joshi is married to Jyothi Joshi and the couple has three daughters. An industrialist-turned-politician, Joshi did his BA from the K.S. Arts College in Hubballi.

A staunch follower of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Joshi first contested as a BJP candidate from Dharwad North in 2004. The constituency was later renamed as Dharwad after a delimitation process, with Joshi winning the seat in each of the successive elections.

Joshi came to the limelight during the Idgah Maidan row in Hubballi, which drew national attention in the early 1990s.

In 1994, six persons were killed in police firing in Karnataka, a development which played a major role in the rise of the BJP in Dharwad, northern Karnataka and in the rest of the state subsequently.

Joshi was at the forefront at that time as the President of the Rashtra Dhwaj Gourav Rakshana Samiti.

He also actively participated in the campaigns demanding the hoisting of the tricolour at the Idgah Maidan.

Joshi became the Dharwad district chief of the BJP in 1995 and continued to hold the post till 1998.

After serving as a member in various committees, Joshi was appointed as the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas in September 2014.

He went on to become the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal, and Mines in the NDA Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.

Joshi, who also has a book titled ‘Sadhaneya Sankalpa’ in Kannada to his credit, was a member of the Parliamentary delegation at the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in December 2008, where he spoke on atrocities against women and children.