Had an opportunity to work with Priyank Kharge during his tenure as the IT and the Tourism Minister. Priyank Kharge was always encouraging and open to ideas and innovation. Infact he got the name of his department changed from Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science &Technology as the Department of Innovation and Technology.
I had taken his mobile number during a conference and i called him casually and sought an appointment and he obliged to meet us at his office. We were in sync and there was a strong alignment with the tourism team led by Dr.N Manjula IAS. That was one of the best team to have occupied the seat of power in Karnataka Tourism. we bootstrapped the engagement with a Heritage Ride for the World Tourism Day on Sept 27 2017. Heritage ride was a marvellous success. Till then the World Tourism Day was organized in a private manner and with our engagement it was a community success. Priyank suggested to organize a cyclothon and a duathlon at Nandi Hills. With his “blessings” we were looking for partners around Nandi Hills. Sunil who was one of the core group members had organized a Marathon @ Nandi Hills. He introduced us to Prashanth Prakash from Discovery Village and Partner at Accel India. This introduction turned to amazing partnership as we engaged in multiple initiatives together.
I set up a meeting with Prashanth Prakash and Priyank and the rest of the team . Prashanth Prakash broadened the Canvas of nandi marathon and renamed the event to Nandi Habba and we decided to incorporate heritage walks, cultural events, cycling, running and eco walks into the festival. And when we were searching for the domain owner we got hooked to Rama krishna who was running this company SaltMarch Media. With a fantastic team to celebrate the spirit of the hills we organized the Nandi Habba at Nandi Hills.
Priyank was given a memento with Nandi on a Bicycle Gear Hub , after Nandi Habba in 2018 and after receiving the innovation - he suggested “Murali Nandi should rotate” . This innovation was incorporated in the Yogi.run event we organized later in 2019.
Modified for Yogi run as per Priyanks Suggestion.
Priyank with his dynamic personality , rebooted the static IT/BT dept into a dynamic ecosystem of collaborations .His efforts led the global start up market recognize the city of bangalore as leading startup city globally for its innovation and entrepenuership. His leadership was all about being engaged with the talented people . His charisma was his humility and his pleasant personality. He worked hard till late night to drive innovations and engagement in Tourism and Technology. He was open to small players like us and also dinned with big players like Prashanth Prakash from Accel Partners. I wanted to write about his work as a minister and I checked if he maintains a blog or a web presence - Unfortunately he does not have any website/ blog site.
Click on the Image below to understand and appreciate the Priyanks Kharge Work on Your Story in a stint of 2 years. 
