K. S. Eshwarappa

K. S. Eshwarappa
Minister of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj Government of Karnataka
In office 20 August 2019 – 14 April 2022
Chief Minister	B. S. Yediyurappa Basavaraj Bommai
Preceded by	Krishna Byre Gowda
In office 12 July 2012 – 13 May 2013
Chief Minister	Jagadish Shettar
Preceded by	Jagadish Shettar
Succeeded by	H. K. Patil
Minister of Youth Empowerment & Sports Government of Karnataka
In office 27 September 2019 – 10 February 2020
Chief Minister	B. S. Yediyurappa Basavaraj Bommai
Preceded by	Rahim Khan
Succeeded by	C. T. Ravi
Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka
In office 12 July 2012 – 13 May 2013 Serving with R. Ashoka
Preceded by	B. S. Yeddyurappa
Succeeded by	G. Parameshwara
Minister of Revenue Government of Karnataka
In office 12 July 2012 – 13 May 2013
Chief Minister	Jagadish Shettar
Preceded by	G. Karunakara Reddy
Succeeded by	Srinivasa Prasad
Minister of Energy Government of Karnataka
In office 30 May 2008 – 28 January 2010
Chief Minister	B. S. Yediyurappa
Preceded by	H. D. Revanna
Succeeded by	Shobha Karandlaje
Minister of Major & Medium Irrigation Government of Karnataka
In office 18 February 2006 – 8 October 2007
Chief Minister	H. D. Kumaraswamy
Preceded by	Mallikarjun Kharge
Succeeded by	Basavaraj Bommai
Leader of the Opposition Karnataka Legislative Council
In office 13 July 2014 – 29 May 2018
Preceded by	D. V. Sadananda Gowda
Succeeded by	Kota Srinivas Poojary
President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka
In office 2 January 2010 – 11 July 2012
Preceded by	D V Sadananda Gowda
Succeeded by	Prahlad Joshi
Member of Karnataka Legislative Council
In office 1 July 2014 – 15 May 2018
Constituency	elected by the Legislative Assembly members
Member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 2018
Preceded by	K. B. Prasanna Kumar
Constituency	Shivamogga
In office 2004–2013
Preceded by	H.M Chandrashekarappa
Succeeded by	K.B. Prasanna Kumar
Constituency	Shivamogga
In office 1989–1999
Preceded by	K. H. Srinivassa
Succeeded by	H.M Chandrashekarappa
Constituency	Shivamogga
Personal details
Born	(1948-06-10) 10 June 1948 Ballari, Mysore State, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Residence	Bengaluru

K. S. Eshwarappa (born 10 June 1948) is an Indian senior Bharatiya Janata Party politician who was Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj of Karnataka from 20 August 2019 to 14 April 2022. He was the 6th Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka from 12 July 2012 to 12 May 2013. He was Minister of State for Rural development and Panchayat Raj of Karnataka from 20 August 2019 to 26 July 2021. He is a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka. He was the seventh Deputy Chief minister in the BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar from 2012 to 2013. On 20 August 2019 he was inducted as a Cabinet Minister in the BJP government led by B.S. Yediyurappa. He served as Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council (2014-2018).

Early life

K. S. Eshwarappa was born in Bellary. His father Sharanappa and mother Bassamma moved to Shimoga in the early 1950s. His parents worked in the Bhoopalam Areca Mandi as daily wage workers. When young Eshwarappa also tried to go to work with his parents, his mother opposed the move and urged him to concentrate on his education and earn a good name in society. This inspiration that he got in his childhood, eventually led him to become a social worker.

As a child, Eshwarappa was interested in sports and music. One of his classmates was D. M. Ravindra who later became the Prant Pracharak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R.S.S.). Narasimha Murthy Iyengar, a well-known V.H.P leader in Shimoga, introduced him to the RSS during his childhood. Thus, his public life began as an activist of the RSS.

While he was a student in the National Commerce College, Shimoga, he actively worked with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (A.B.V.P.), the student wing of RSS. After his graduation, he started his own private business in Shimoga city. He also involved himself with the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

Political career

During Emergency (1975–77), he was arrested and detained in the Bellary Jail. After the removal of emergency, he became very active in politics. He worked in different capacities and in 1982, became the president of the Shimoga city unit of BJP. His personal efforts were one of the main reasons in M. Ananda Rao winning from Shimoga as the first ever BJP candidate.

In 1989, he contested the Karnataka assembly elections as a BJP candidate from Shimoga and defeated a heavyweight, the then health Minister K. H. Srinivas by a margin of 1,304 votes. He became popular with this victory and went on to win four more times from this constituency, losing only once in 1999. In 1992, he became the President of the State unit of BJP and was instrumental in his party's good performance in the 1994 state assembly elections. In 2000, he was appointed the Chairman of the Central Silk Board when the NDA government was in power.

In the BJP-JDS coalition Government headed by H. D. Kumaraswamy, he was Minister for Water Resources. Following the historic victory of the BJP in the Karnataka state elections in 2008, he became the minister for Power in the B.S. Yeddyurappa government.

In January 2010, he resigned as minister and was unanimously elected as the President of the Karnataka state unit of the ruling BJP. This move was seen as BJP's strategy to tackle opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah, who also belongs to the same community.

In July 2012, following the resignation of D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar was appointed the Chief minister and Eshwarappa became Deputy Chief minister. He was also entrusted with the Revenue and Rural development portfolios. He then stepped down as the State BJP president and was succeeded by Prahlad Joshi.

In the 2013 Assembly elections, Eshwarappa contested again from the Shimoga assembly constituency and lost to K. B. Prasanna Kumar of the Congress by a margin of nearly 6,000 votes. Days after making an alleged “hate speech” against a minority community, Eshwarappa was slapped with a criminal case in April 2013 after electoral officials issued directions for it.

However, he was nominated by his party to the Karnataka Legislative Council in 2014 and became the Leader of the Opposition in the council.

In the 2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election he again contested from Shimaga and won the seat. Further after the collapse of H. D. Kumaraswamy's coalition government, he was sworn in as the Rural development and Panchayat Raj minister. After the resignation of B. S. Yediyurappa he was again inducted as the cabinet minister under Basavaraj Bommai.

On 14 April 2022, Eshwarappa resigned from his position as Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister after a controversy arose over his alleged role in the suicide of a contractor, Santhosh Patil, who wasn't paid for road works.

References

Political offices
Preceded by B. S. Yeddyurappa	Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka 13 July 2012 – 8 May 2013	Succeeded by Dr. G. Parameshwara