Rajeev Chandrasekhar Age, Caste, Wife, Children, Family, Biography » StarsUnfolded

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rajeev Chandrasekhar

• Rajeev Chandrasekhar was born was born to Malayali Nair parents in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. His family hails from Desamangalam in the Thrissur district of Kerala.

• His father was an Air Commodore in the Indian Air Force.

• Due to his father’s service, Rajeev did most of his schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Bengaluru.

• After completing his bachelor degree, in 1983, he moved to Chicago for his master’s degree.

• In 1985, he started his professional career with Intel, California as a coder, senior design engineer and a CPU architect.

• In 1991, he moved back to India and got married to his wife, Anju Chandrasekhar. She is the daughter of T. P. G. Nambiar, the founder of BPL Group.

• After marriage, he joined his father-in-law’s company, BPL Group.

• In 1994, Rajeev founded, India’s first mobile network company, Loop Mobile India Ltd, formerly named as BPL Mobile Communications. In 2005, he sold his 64% share in BPL Communications to Essar Group for Rs 700 crore approximately.
  

  Rajeev Chandrasekhar in 1994

• In 2005, he founded an investment firm, Jupiter Capital. Over the years, this firm managed assets of over US$800 million in technology, media, hospitality, and entertainment.

• In 2006, Chandrasekhar entered in media firm, and made investment in Asianet Communications through his firm Jupiter Capital Private Limited.

• From 2006 to 2018, he served as a Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) representing Karnataka, as an independent candidate. He won the 2006 and 2012 elections with the cross-party support from Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs.

• During his election campaigns, allegations were made against him that being a wealthy businessman he paid MLAs to secure their votes.

• In 2007, he founded an non-profit organisation, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, earlier known as Bengaluru Vedhike. The organisation actively works with various civic organisation of Bengaluru, to make the city better.
  

  Rajeev Chandrasekhar posing with Bengaluru Vedhike’s poster

• In May 2008, Rajeev founded Asianet News Online Private Ltd. (ANOPL), which handles South India media outlets, including Asianet News, Asianet Suvarna News, and online portal Newsable.

• From 2008 to 2009, Rajeev served as the youngest president of FICCI-Federation of Indian chambers of Commerce and Industry.

• In the late 2008s, he entered into a joint venture with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp as Asianet Star Communications.

• In 2009, he founded another NGO, Flags of Honour Foundation, that supports martyrs’ families and serves as a platform for citizens who seek to help families of martyrs.

• In 2012, Rajeev launched an online campaign, Ask Seek, Know (ASK), that helped citizens to directly get their voice heard in parliament.

• In April 2013, Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum, Karnataka, awarded him with an Honorary degree for his work as an entrepreneur.

• In 2015, One Rank One Pension, an issue Rajeev had been fighting continuously since 2006 was formally announced by the Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar.

• In 2016, Rajeev invested in ARG Outlier Media, the parent company of Republic TV, through Asianet News Online Private Ltd.

• In 2018, Chandrasekhar joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
  

  Rajeev Chandrasekhar (left) with Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left)

• In April 2018, he was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka for a third six-year term as a BJP candidate.

• In September 2020, he was appointed as the national spokesperson of BJP.

• In February 2021, Rajeev appointed as Puducherry election co-in charge.

• From July 2021 to June 2024, he served as the Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and Ministry of Jal Shakti of Karnataka.

• In 2024, Rajeev lost his seat from Thiruvananthapuram in the 2024 general election his elections. He was not offered a ministerial position in new coalition formed under National Democratic Alliance.

• In March 2025, Chandrasekhar was appointed as state president of BJP Keralam.
  

  Rajeev Chandrasekhar (right) with BJP leader Amit Shah (left)

• In his political career, he served as a member at government bodies, including Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Joint Committee on Data Protection Bill, 2019, Consultative Committee on MoE & IT, Ministry of Communications, Indian Council for World Affairs, Central Advisory Committee for the National Cadet Corps, and Rajya Sabha Select Committees for the GST and Real Estate bills.

• He also served as Co-chairman of District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee, Bangalore Urban District.

• In March 2026, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has filed his nomination for the 2026 Kerala Assembly elections from the Nemom constituency, held on 9 April 2026.
  

  Rajeev Chandrasekhar, during his election campaign

• Rajeev Chandrasekhar follows a strict workout regimen to stay fit and active.
  

  Rajeev Chandrasekhar, while doing workout in gym