Oscar Fernandes is a confidant of the President of India's Congress, who has served in that role since what year?
Oscar Fernandes Oscar Fernandes (born 27 March 1941) is an Indian politician, a senior Indian National Congress leader and was the Union Cabinet Minister for Transport, Road and Highways and Labour and Employment, Government Of India in UPA government. He is one of the closest confidant of the present Congress President Sonia Gandhi. One of the major leaders in the taking of important decisions of Congress Party. He is also the Chairman of Central Election Authority of the All India Congress Committee. He was previously the AICC General Secretary, the Minister of State (Independent charge) of the Ministry of Labour and Employment in Dr. Manmohan Singh's first UPA government in India. He served as Parliamentary Secretary to Rajiv Gandhi. He was elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 from Udupi constituency in Karnataka. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1984, 1989, 1991 and 1996 from the same constituency. Later, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1998. He was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2004. He was a Union Minister from 2004–2009, holding a number of portfolios such as Statistics and Programme Implementation, NRI Affairs, Youth and Sports Affairs and Labour and Employment.
Kerala Congress (B) Kerala Congress (B) is a registered-unrecognized political party in Kerala, formed by R. Balakrishna Pillai, a former minister of the government of Kerala. At present, the party has one MLA in the state Legislative Assembly, namely K. B. Ganesh Kumar, a well-known film actor and son of R. Balakrishna Pillai, who has been representing the Pathanapuram constituency in Kollam District since 2001. The Kerala Congress (B) was a constituent of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) until 2016 and is now part of Left Democratic Front. K B Ganesh Kumar served as a minister (portfolio in Forest, Sports and Cinema) in the UDF government led by Oommen Chandy beginning May 18, 2011 until his resignation on April 1, 2013.