Not just Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar: Meet other Karnataka CM hopefuls

The race for the Karnataka chief minister’s post is getting interesting. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief DK Shivakumar are thought to be the top two candidates for the top job in the state. But while they are the overwhelming favourites, they’re not the only ones who could become chief minister. Let’s meet some of the other candidates who are possibly in contention for top job in Karnataka.  G Parameshwara On Tuesday, Congress leader G Parameshwara threw his name into the race. He helped his father establish the Sri Siddhartha Medical College prior to joining politics, as per Moneycontrol. Parameswara joined Congresss in 1989 as KPCC joint secretary after  former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi spotted potential in him when he visited Tumkur. Parameshwara was the state’s first Dalit deputy chief minister under the  Congress-JD(S) coalition government led by HD Kumaraswamy. Parameswara has been elected to the Karnataka Assembly six times. He has represented Madhugiri in 1989, 1999 and 2004, Koratagere in 2008, 2018 and 2023. He was also the longest-serving KPCC chief (eight years) and has a PhD in plant physiology from the Waite Agriculture Research Centre of the University of Adelaide. Parameshwara previously served as the minister for sericulture (1993-94) and minister for higher education (1999-2004). Parameshwara, who represents Koratagere in Tumakuru district, in 2013 lost the  Assembly polls to then political newbie Sudhakar Lal when he was KPCC president. Parameshwara, at the time a contender for the chief minister’s post, lost out on chance to be chief minister. He was then made an MLC and a minister in the Siddaramaiah government. According to News9, Parameshwara blames Siddaramaiah for his defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the Kolar constituency. His supporters credit him for development worth Rs 2,500 crore in the Koratagere constituency including  hospitals, dams, water supply centres and infrastructure. However, criticisms have been levied at Parameshwara of being an ‘elitist’ and not accessible to the common man, as per News9. Parameshwara said that he was ready to take up the responsibility if the party high command asked him to run the government. Parameshwara, the former state Congress chief, added that the high command is aware of his service to the party, and he doesn’t feel the need to lobby for the post. “I have faith in the party high command. I have certain principles. I can also take about 50 legislators and do the shouting, but for me the discipline of the party is important. If people like us don’t follow things, there won’t be any discipline in the party. I have said that if the high command gives me the responsibility, I will take it up. I have not said I won’t,” he said. “They (high command) too are aware that I have worked for the party, served it for eight years (as KPCC President) and brought it to power (in 2013). Also I have served as the Deputy Chief Minister. They know everything, there is nothing for us to say afresh. So I feel there is no need for me to ask for the post or lobby for it, and I’m quiet. That doesn’t mean i’m incapable, I’m capable and if given an opportunity will do the job,” he added. Parameshwara’s comments came as his supporters took to the streets in Karnataka and demanded that he be given the top job. Lingayats demand CM Meanwhile, a high-profile Lingayat group has demanded that the Congress appoint a CM from the community. The All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, headed up by Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, has written to the Congress high command demanding the coveted post for the community. In its letter addressed to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, the Mahasabha said that their demand has to be considered as 34 elected MLAs from the Congress are Lingayats. It also said that the party had given tickets to 46 candidates, of which 34 won. “The community has played a major role in electing MLAs in other 50 seats. The community has shifted its loyalty from BJP to Congress,” the letter says. “Congress won with the support of Lingayats. 39 elected Congress MLAs are from the Lingayat community. Lingayat community has many able candidates for the post of CM. It’s sad that their names aren’t being put forward. There’s MB Patil, Shamanuru Shivashankarappa and Eshwar Khandre. The Karnataka Lingayat association requests them to make one of these people CM,” added Veerashaiva Samaj Kalaburagi president Arun Kumar Patil while speaking to ANI on Monday. MB Patil MB Patil, a senior Congress leader and former minister, is a prominent Lingayat leader. He began his political career in 1991 by successfully contesting the Assembly elections from Tikota. [caption id=“attachment_12605932” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] File image of Karnataka Congress leader MB Patil. News18[/caption] Following this, the Congress leader contested the Lok Sabha polls from Bijapur (now renamed as Vijayapura) and became an MP. In 2008, Patil yet again contested the assembly polls from Babaleshwar. He has held the seat in his Babaleshwar constituency since 2008, according to Jagran.  He won his fourth straight term in the recently-concluded Assembly polls getting 74,950 votes against his rival Vijaykumar Patil of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Patil, the campaign committee chairman and former home and water resources minister, has already spelled out his ambition to become chief minister. “There are many capable contenders for the CM’s post including me,” Patil told Deccan Herald in April.

Patil told PTI he was among several contenders for the post.

“I am there. G Parameshwara, Krishna Byre Gowda, Ramalinga Reddy, H K Patil, R V Deshpande are also there. There are many leaders who are capable of becoming a CM. In Congress, the party legislative committee will take a call after the election results.” Asked if Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi joining the Congress threatened his aspirations to become a CM, he said: “In Lingayats, I am much more senior than Shettar and Savadi. It will take time for them to be an aspirant for CM.” “Although I am capable of becoming a CM like many others, ultimately the party will decide,” he added. Patil, who was at the forefront of recommending religious status for the Lingayats, in 2018 took umbrage at Shivakumar saying the Congress made a huge mistake by recommending religious minority status for the Lingayat community ahead of the polls. According to India Today, the BJP in April had shared a purported video of Patil slapping a youth while campaigning.

A source told the outlet Patil slapped the youth, who is from Patil’s Babaleshwar constituency, for asking what development he’d brought to his village. However, Patil claimed the young man used an unparliamentary word on stage, as per India Today. Prior to the polls, Patil had predicted that the Congress will come to power on its own with 130-odd seats out of 224 in the Karnataka assembly elections and the BJP’s alleged ‘Operation Kamala’ of poaching MLAs post polls will not be successful this time. Patil had also denied any ‘internal fight’ in the Congress over aspirations of becoming chief minister. Patil had claimed that he has neither been sidelined nor losing his importance in the party after Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, the tall  Lingayat leaders from BJP, joined the Congress. Shamanuru Shivashankarappa  At 91, Shamanur Shivashankarappa is Karnataka’s oldest MLA. SS, as people around the veteran leader fondly call him, needs support while walking but has a good listening capacity, a clear voice and speaks his mind with clarity. [caption id=“attachment_12605922” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Shamanur Shivashankarappa is Karnataka’s oldest MLA. Image courtesy: @DvgShamanurS[/caption] Shivashankarappa’s political acumen could be gauged from the fact that the party assigned him the job of getting former chief minister and BJP leader Jagadish Shettar into the Congress fold, a party leader told PTI. Shivashankarappa is an eminent educationist, who runs medical, engineering and nursing colleges, among others in Davangere. He declared assets worth Rs 312.75 crore while filing his nomination. According to Business Insider, he has investments in sugar distilleries and has even produced a Kannada movie. He has three sons and four daughters. The Congress gave his son SS Mallikarjun a ticket to contest from Davangere North. The Congress veteran, a five-time MLA and former Lok Sabha member, retained his Davangere South in the recently-concluded Assembly polls. Shivashankarappa handily defeated BJP nominee former Mayor BG Ajay Kumar in the polls, getting 84,928 votes compared to just 56,410 votes.

Prior to the polls, he described himself as a ‘galloping horse’ in the electoral arena.

When a reporter, quoting some reports, told him that someone from the minority community was supposed to get the ticket instead of him, the Congress leader playfully chided him: “Don’t create trouble. All are with me here (Davangere South). You don’t need to bother about it. Muslims and Lingayats are all with me.” Shivashankarappa after his win told Deccan Herald he would urge the party to choose a Lingayat MLA as chief minister. On being asked if he is in the race for chief minister, Shivashankarappa quickly answered “yes yes, why not?”, according to The Print.  Eshwar Khandre Eshwar Khandre is the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president.  Khandre in February played coy about who would be the next chief minister in Karnataka telling News18 ‘anything can happen and  “there are umpteen people from the community in the party who can lead the state in the next government”. Khandre in 2019 had invited BJP’s Yediyurappa to join the Congress. “Let Yediyurappa come and join our party, he is being harassed by his high command," Khandre told reporters at Bhalki. He claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi by allegedly not giving appointment to the then chief minister, who is the representative of seven crore people of the state, to discuss flood relief, had humiliated the people of the state. “Why should he (Yediyurappa) remain (in BJP)? If he has self-respect, let him quit the party and join our party,” he added. Asked what kind of harassment Yediyurappa was facing, Khandre said, “You (media) too know what the situation is. You know how he is being treated. Everything was coming from the top and how he is able to administer.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .