He held multiple portfolios such as Kannada and culture, youth affairs and sports, higher education and information in the government of Karnataka.
[2][3] Alva was born into a middle-class family which hailed from the coastal Canara region of Karnataka and belonged to the Tulu-speaking Bunt community.
While still in college, in 1976, he was "provoked into joining politics" by Jayaprakash Narayan, led by former Chief Minister of Mysore (now Karnataka), D. Devaraj Urs, into the JP movement.
Jeevaraj then went on to become a close confidante of Hegde, who called him a sanghathana chatura (able organiser), and served as minister when in his cabinet.
He is credited with playing the trouble-shooter and mediating during a feud between Hegde and Janata Party leader H. D. Deve Gowda.
[4] In 1980, he co-founded the Karnataka Kranti Ranga, intended to campaign against Indira Gandhi, who Devaraj Urs had fallen out with.
Alva would subsequently be a backroom operator, helping engineer Hegde's ascent to the chief ministership of Karnataka in 1983.