K. G. Bopaiah is current speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in India. He was elected speaker on 30 December 2009. He was earlier a deputy speaker. He is a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party

Bharatiya Janata Party

The Bharatiya Janata Party ,; translation: Indian People's Party) is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Indian National Congress. Established in 1980, it is India's second largest political party in terms of representation in the parliament...

. He was born in 1955 in Kodagu District.

Kombarana Ganapathy Bopaiah was born in a Gowda (Vokkaliga) family on 17 October 1955 at Kalur, a small village near Madikeri in Kodagu District. He is the second son of Kombarana Ganapathy and Chinnamma. 'Kombarana' is one of the hundreds of gowda families of Kodagu.

Education

He had his primary education in the Kalur Government Primary School and went to Chettalli in Somwarpet taluk for high school. Mr. Bopaiah obtained B.Sc. degree from the then Government Senior College here (now Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College) in 1974. After completing B.Sc., Mr. Bopaiah joined the BMS College in Bangalore for LLB course. After completing the LLB course as a gold medallist, Mr. Bopaiah returned to Madikeri in 1980 and started practising law.

Political Career

He was closely associated with the Sangh Parivar since his school days. He was as an active ABVP member during his college days. He participated in the movement against the Kambadakada dam project in Kodagu proposed by the government in 1970. He was arrested during the Emergency in Bangalore and jailed for some time. He was appointed as general secretary of the Kodagu unit of the BJP and elevated as its president in the 90s. He is the third Gowda MLA from Madikeri Assembly constituency after Dambekodi Chinnappa and Dambekodi Madappa. In 2004 he was elected as a MLA from Madikeri constituency as a BJP candidate. In 1999, he had unsuccessfully contested from Madikeri constituency as a BJP candidate. In 2009, he won again as a BJP candidate from Virajpet Assembly constituency after the number of constituency in Kodagu was reduced from three to two after the delimitation of constituencies.
Mr. Bopaiah served as pro tem Speaker for four days after the BJP won the mandate and has the honour of administering oath to all the members of the legislative Assembly in that capacity. Later, he was made Deputy Speaker of the legislative Assembly. On 30 December 2009 he was elected as the speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. The elections to the post of Speaker took place amid confusion and protest at the Legislative Assembly. The opposition was demanding that the elections be postponed in the event of the death of Kannada superstar Dr Vishnuvardhan. The opposition even protested in the well of the House, stating that the entire day should be dedicated to condolence of the departed star. However, the BJP went ahead with the process and elected Bopaiah as speaker.

Family

His wife Kunthi is the principal of the Kudige School in Somwarpet taluk. His elder daughter Prajna is an engineering student in Bangalore and second daughter Yashika is in school.