Vijay Sankeshwar

Vijay Sankeshwar (born 2 August 1950) is an Indian businessman from Dharwad, Karnataka. He along with Anand Sankeshwar (managing director) is the chairman of India's largest logistics firm VRL Group. He is also known for being the owner of the largest fleet of commercial vehicles in India.

He left BJP and founded the Kannada Nadu Party. Later he joined the Karnataka Janata Paksha of BJP outcast Yeddyurappa; the party eventually merged back with BJP. Sankeshwar was also a former Member of Parliament from North Dharwad constituency as a BJP member.

Sankeshwar previously owned Karnataka's largest circulating newspaper, Vijaya Karnataka, until it was sold to Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd. (The Times Group) for an undisclosed sum in 2007. After the expiry of a five-year non-compete clause he launched Vijaya Vani in 2012. Vijaya Vani is now the #1 Kannada daily newspaper, with 8 lakh+ sold copies every day.

Sankeshwar launched a new Kannada channel, Digvijay 24X7, on April 4, 2017.

In 2020, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.

Personal life Vijay Sankeshwar was born on 2 August 1950 in Betageri, Gadag, Mysore State (now in Karnataka), to Basavanneppa Sankeshwar and Chandrawwa, in an influential lingayat Banajiga community family. The biopic will focus on Sankeshwar's journey from owning a single truck to making it India's largest logistics fleet.