He retained the seat for BJP winning again in the 1999 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election defeating M. K. Somashekar, also of JDS, by a margin of 9,752 votes.
Following the historic victory of the BJP in Karnataka, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa[6] in May 2008.
In 2010, he was appointed a Cabinet minister in the Yeddyurappa government and was entrusted with the Medical Education portfolio.
In 2013, he contested from Krishnaraja constituency again but lost to M. K. Somashekar, who won on INC ticket this time.
[7][8] In 2014, he attempted suicide after a woman named Premkumari, a widow with two children, exposed their affair to the media.