Shri Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, born on July 10, 1961, in Sirsi, Karnataka, is a prominent politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He has served as the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly since July 2019, and has been elected six times as the MLA for the Sirsi constituency. His political career began with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), where he held the position of State Secretary for five years during his college days
Kageri’s educational background includes a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Karnatak University, Dharwad. Throughout his political journey, he has held various significant positions, including the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education from 2008 to 2013(In the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, he won against Bhimanna Naik of the Congress party by a margin of around 15,000 votes
On the personal front, Kageri is married to Bharathi, and they have three daughters
His father, Anant Hegde, was actively involved with the RSS, which likely influenced Kageri’s political orientation. He is known for his strong advocacy for including the Bhagavad Gita in school curricula, a stance that attracted some controversy in 2011