Bandaru Dattatreya (born 12 June 1947) is an Indian politician serving as the current Governor of the State of Haryana since 2021. He was also the 20th Governor of Himachal Pradesh and was the Member of Lok Sabha for Secunderabad from 2014 to 2019. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Born in Hyderabad, Dattatreya graduated with a science degree. He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1965 and was imprisoned during The Emergency. In 1991, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Secunderabad constituency for the first time. In 1997, he was appointed party president for the state unit. In 1998, he was re-elected and served as Union Minister of State for Urban Development in the second Vajpayee ministry. He was elected for a third consecutive time in 1999 and again served as a Minister of State in third Vajpayee ministry. He lost the Lok Sabha election in 2004 and 2009. The party appointed him as national vice-president in 2013. In May 2014, he was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from his former constituency. In November he was made a Minister of State for Labour and Employment in the Modi ministry and became the lone minister from Telangana. Early life Dattatreya was born on 12 June 1947 to Bandaru Anjaiah and Eswaramma at the city of Hyderabad, in Hyderabad State. He received B.Sc. degree from Osmania University. Political career Dattatreya began his political career and joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1965. He served as a pracharak (propagator) of the organisation from 1965 to 1968. He also served as state joint secretary of Loka Sangarsha Samiti (Jayaprakash Narayan-led Total Revolution Movement) and was imprisoned during the Emergency in the 1970s. In 1980, Dattatreya officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was appointed general secretary of the party's Andhra Pradesh unit. He served in that position until 1989. Dattatreya was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Secunderabad constituency In 1991. He defeated his nearest rival T. Manemma Anjaiah of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 85,063 votes. He was the only BJP candidate to win from Andhra Pradesh. In 1997, he became president of the party's Andhra Pradesh unit. P.V. Rajeshwara Rao defeated Dattatreya in the general election held in 1996. However, two years later, he defeated Rao by a margin of 185,910 votes and was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from the Secunderabad constituency. Rediff.com