After years of speaking for the party and against party strongman B.S. Yediyurappa, finally three-time MLA Arvind Bellad has something to be contented with. The Bharatiya Janata Party has appointed him as Deputy Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly.
Like the former Union Minister Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, he belongs to the demographically strong Lingayat Panchamasali community and along with Mr. Yatnal, he was up in arms against the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa which ultimately resulted in Mr. Yediyurappa being unseated.
Although Mr. Bellad’s name as a youth leader too figured in the race for the Chief Minister’s post, the party yielded to pressure from the BJP strongman to choose Basavaraj Bommai, considered a confidante of Mr. Yediyurappa, for the Chief Minister’s post.
Post the election debacle, Mr. Bellad’s name again surfaced during the race for the Leader of Opposition post but the party chose the former Minister R. Ashok, working on caste equations.
Now, after much dilly-dallying, the party has chosen the 54-year-old engineering graduate to hold the position of Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
Son of the former MLA and BJP leader Chandrakant Bellad, Mr. Bellad holds a mechanical engineering degree from SDM College of Engineering and Technology, Dharwad, and a Master’s degree in Business Management from INSEAD France.
Before entering politics against the wishes of his father, Mr. Bellad was running his business. At present, Mr. Bellad is the managing partner of The Bellad Group which has 24 branches with a manpower of 600 and an annual business of over ₹400 crore.
Mr. Bellad entered the Legislative Assembly for the first time in 2013 and won his seat successively in 2018 and 2023. Mr. Bellad’s association with the RSS began when he was nine, as he started attending Shakha. He is known for his proximity to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.
Mr. Bellad, who was earlier identified as dissident in the Yediyurappa government, had declined to comment on the appointment of B.Y. Vijayendra as the State party president.
Now, his long wait for suitable recognition seems to have finally ended with the party choosing him as the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
