Vijay Sankeshwar Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Full name	Vijay Basavanneppa Sankeshwar [1]TOFLER
Profession(s)	Businessman and Politician
Known for	Being the founder of VRL Logistics Limited
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 167 cm in meters- 1.67 m in feet & inches- 5’ 6”
Eye Colour	Dark Brown
Hair Colour	Salt and Pepper
Politics
Political Party	• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (1993-2003), (2014-present) • Kannada Naadu Party (KNP) (2003-2004) • Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) (2004-2014)
Political Journey	• Joined BJP (1993) • Contested the 11th Lok Sabha elections (1996) • Member of the Finance Committee, the Consultative Committee, and the Surface Transport Committee (1997) • Lok Sabha elections (1998) • Lok Sabha elections (1999) • Member of the Committee on Commerce and the Committee on Transport and Tourism (1999-2000) • Left BJP and founded his party Kannada Naadu Party (KNP) (2003) • Amalgamated KNP with Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) (2004) • Member of the Legislative Council (during B. S. Yediyurappa's reign) • Rejoined BJP (2014)
Awards	• Udyog Ratna award by the Institute of Economic Studies (1994) • Aaryabhat Award (2002) • Sir M. Visvesvaraya Memorial Award by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) (2007) • Transport Samrat Award (2008) • Selected as Transport Personality of The Year during the India Road Transportation Awards (IRTA) (2012) • An honourary doctorate from Karnataka University (2014) • Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest award by President Ram Nath Kovind (2020)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	2 August 1950 (Wednesday)
Age (as of 2024)	74 Years
Birthplace	Gadag-Betageri city, Mysore state (now Karnataka), India
Zodiac sign	Leo
Signature
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Hubballi, Karnataka, India
College/University	Adarsha Shikshana Samiti College of Commerce
Educational Qualification	B.Com [2]Vijay Sankeshwar’s Lok Sabha profile
Religion	Hinduism [3]News Karnataka
Address	2742/2, Shide Building, Bhavani Nagar, Hubli, Karnataka- 580023, India
Controversy	Spreading disinformation: In 2021, an RTI activist named Bheemagouda Paragonda filed a complaint against Vijay Sankeshwar after Basavaraj Malipatil, a teacher from Raichur, died after listening to Vijay's advice of putting two drops of lemon juice in the nostrils. When India was undergoing a severe shortage of oxygen during the second wave of COVID-19, Vijay, during a press conference, issued a statement in which he advised the masses to put two drops of lemon juice in their nostrils as it would increase the oxygen level in their body. [4]The Hindu Following the teacher's death, Bheemagouda Paragonda wrote a letter to the police commissioners of the Raichur district and Dharwad district, requesting them to file a complaint against Vijay for spreading false information during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also slammed the state government of Karnataka for not taking any strict actions against its party members for spreading false news. During an interview, while talking about it, he said, "Mr. Vijay Sankeshwar is responsible for the death of Basavaraj Malipatil. He died after following the home remedy as told by Mr Vijay. I urge the the jurisdictional officers to file a suo motu case under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code and some sections of Disaster Management Act. Also, the Karantaka government should pay a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the family of the deceased teacher in Raichur.”
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Marriage Date	14 December 1972
Family
Wife/Spouse	Lalitha Sankeshwar
Children	Son- 1 • Anand Sankeshwar (managing director of VRL Logistics Limited) Daughter(s)- 3 • Bharati Holkunde
Parents	Father- Basavanneppa Sankeshwar (businessman) Mother- Chandrawwa Sankeshwar
Siblings	Brother(s)- 2 • Mrutyunjaya Basavanneppa Sankeshwar • Dayanand Sankeshwar Note: Vijay Sankeshwar is the fourth child among seven siblings
Money Factor	Brother(s)- 2 • Mrutyunjaya Basavanneppa Sankeshwar • Dayanand Sankeshwar Note: Vijay Sankeshwar is the fourth child among seven siblings
Assets/Properties	Movable Assets • Cash: Rs. 1,50,000 • Bank Deposits: Rs. 3,25,238 • Bond, Debentures, and Shares in Companies: Rs. 5,62,86,625 • Values of claims/interests: Rs 17,75,000 • Jewellery: Rs. 1,50,000
Net Worth (approx.)	Rs. 58, 686,863 (as of 2004)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vijay Sankeshwar

• Vijay Sankeshwar is an Indian politician and entrepreneur who founded VLR Logisictic Limited. In October 2022, several media houses reported that a Kannada film based on his life will be released in 2022.

• In 1966, Vijay Sankeshwar began his career as an entrepreneur when his father gifted him the family printing press business on his 16th birthday.

• In 1969, to expand his family’s printing business, Vijay Sankeshwar took a loan of Rs 1 lakh from a bank and installed modern printing press machinery. While giving an interview, Vijay Sankeshwar said,
  

  My father was reluctant to send me to college after my schooling. He wanted me to get into the printing business and settle down. So my father gifted me a printing press named ‘Vijay Printing Press’, it was a very small set up with just one machine and two employees. I took a critical decision to take the company to the next level and added a few modern printing machinery, which then cost one lakh rupees.”

• In 1976, while working on expanding the family printing press business, Vijay Sankeshwar established Vijayanand Roadlines, a new business of transporting goods in Karnataka. While giving an interview, Vijay said that he started his transport business with just one truck that was bought by him after taking a loan of Rs 2 lakh from a bank. Talking about it, he said,
  

  With no or little communication access to reach the drivers once they hit the road, I had no clue when the cargo would reach the customer, till the trucks came back safe to the warehouse. I have suffered severe losses and frequent accidents of vehicles that I owned. Not deterred by these setbacks, I worked hard to reach my goal.”

• To expand his transport business, Vijay Sankeshwar, along with his family, shifted to Hubballi, Karnataka in 1978. A few months later, Vijay expanded his transport business by acquiring two additional goods carriers.

• Reportedly, by 1990, Vijayanand Roadways generated annual profits worth Rs 4 Crore and had a fleet of 117 vehicles.

• Several sources claim that Vijay Sankeshwar began partaking in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-related activities when he was 12 years old and used to promote Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during its election campaigning in Karnataka. Vijay Sankeshwar became a member of the BJP in 1993 following which he steadily climbed the ranks within the party and was given several important state-level party appointments.

• Vijay Sankeshwar’s Vijayanand Roadways began passenger bus services from Hubballi to Bangalore and vice versa in 1996 after he purchased four passenger buses.

• In the same year, Vijay Sankeshwar contested the general elections from the Dharwad constituency. In the elections, he emerged victorious after which he entered the parliament as its member.

• In 1997, Vijay Sankeshwar served as a member of two parliamentary committees named the Finance Committee and the Consultative Committee.

• In 1998, Vijay Sankeshwar contested the 12th Lok Sabha elections from the Dharwad constituency and won the elections.

• Vijay Sankeshwar contested and won the 1999 general elections from the Dharwad constituency following which he became a member of two parliamentary committees named the Committee on Commerce and the Committee on Transport and Tourism.

• In 2003, Vijay Sankeshwar resigned from the BJP and established Kannada Naadu Party (KNP), which was amalgamated with B. S. Yediyurappa’s Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) in 2004.

• When Yediyurappa was serving as the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Vijay Sankeshwar was nominated as a Member of the Legislative Council in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly (KLA). Vijay, however, resigned from his membership in the legislative assembly due to some political differences. ^[5]The Hindu Talking about it, during an interview, he said,
  

  I have been associated with the RSS for 52 years and it is much more than a mother to me. And I am not against the RSS. But the manner in which it has functioned in the last eight to ten years, especially with regard to the lack of transparency on donations received by it and the manner in which it is dictating terms to the BJP, has disappointed me.”

• Vijay Sankeshwar expanded his business into generating clean energy in 2006 after establishing a 42.5 Mw wind power venture at Mundargi at Kappatgudda, Gadag district, Karnataka. While giving an interview, he said,
  

  All of my ventures were completely and undoubtedly based on trial and error method. I took maximum risk as well as pride in whatever I have done so far. We have never copied anyone in any of our business models, ever.”

  

  Anand Sankeshwar and Vijay Sankeshwar standing for a photo in front of VLR Logistics Limited owned trucks

• The Kannada newspaper Vijaya Vani, founded by Vijay Sankeshwar in 2012, is reported to be Karnataka’s leading newspaper selling over 8 million copies per day. He is also the founder of Vijay Karnataka, Nootana, and Bhavana, which are Kannada newspapers and periodicals.

• After Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, Vijay Sankeshwar rejoined the BJP as well.

• In 2020, Vijay Sankeshwar founded Sahitya Prakashana, an online bookstore containing many English, Hindi, and Kannada books.

• Several national-level boards and committees, such as All India Motor Transport Congress, Tobacco Board, and Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have appointed Vijay Sankeshwar as a member.

• According to a March 2022 report in The Economic Times, VLR Logistics Limited earned an annual profit worth Rs 2393.65 Crore. ^[6]The Economic Times

• In October 2022, Vijay Sankeshwar’s son Anand announced that in 2022, Vijayanand, a Kannada film based on the life journey of Vijay, will be released on an OTT platform in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
  

  A poster of Vijay Sankeshwar’s biopic film Vijayanand