About

Raghunath Vishvanath Deshpande (born 16 March 1947) was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Haliyal Constituency five times and is the minister for Medium & Heavy Industries Government of Karnataka, India.

Political career
Raghunath Viswanath Rao Deshpande holds a B.A and L.L.B degrees. He began his political career as the president of the Karnataka State Co-operative Agriculture & Rural Development Bank. A seven-term MLA, Deshpande started his political career in the Janata Parivar before shifting to the Indian National Congress in 1999. He served as industries minister for 10 years between 1994 and 2004.

Achievements
Being the higher education and tourism minister, Deshpande has taken several initiatives for the development of education and tourism in the state. A new draft called the Tourism Trade Facilitation Act has been prepared which ensures the safety of the tourists coming to the state.