The Congress party won a landslide victory in the elections in Karnataka, taking 135 seats in the 224-member General Assembly in the May 10 polls. The party’s brilliant land management, with leaders confined to raising local issues, was one of the key factors in the party’s resounding victory, which rose from 80 seats in the last election to 135 seats.
Now that the results are out, all eyes are on the Prime Minister’s post. Veteran leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, who won the Varuna and Kanakapura seats respectively, are the likely names. The swearing-in ceremony will probably take place on May 18, and cabinet ministers may also take the oath together with the CM.
While the top two leaders – Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar – are credited with the Congress victory in the state, there are several other party leaders who have impressed with their spectacular victories.
While the jury is still out on who will be the new CM of Karnataka, the allocation of portfolios and choice of ministers is becoming increasingly important to the Congress.
Here are 8 likely front runners for a Karnataka minister’s post:
G Parameshvara
Senior Congress Leader and Former Minister G Parameshwara won from his constituency Koratagere against PR Sudhakar Lal of the Janata Dal (Secular). He had won the Assembly seat for the first time in 2008. In the 2023 Assembly elections, he managed to win 79,099 seats out of 1,74,578 votes, against his closest rival PR Sudhakar Lal of JD(S) who won 64,752. Earlier, he had announced himself as chief minister-designate for Karnataka along with DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.
MB Patil
Congress leader and former Home Affairs and Water Resources Minister MB Patil won from the Babaleshwar seat, defeating closest rival BJP candidate Vijayakumar Patil by a margin of 15,216 votes out of 1,79,186 votes polled.
Former minister and Lingayat leader obtained 93,293 votes and managed to get 52.42 percent vote share while Vijayakumar got 43.92 percent vote share from Babaleshwar constituency, which is located in Mumbai Karnataka (Kittur Karnataka) region and the Bijapur district. of the state. In 2018, the Congress party had a vote share of 57.29 percent.
Ramalinga Reddy
Congressional veteran Ramalinga Reddy retained his BTM Layout Assembly seat, beating his nearest rival in the May 13 polls by 68,557 votes. BJP candidate KR Sridhara won 59,335 votes out of 1,35,231 votes polled. Reddy is one of the working presidents of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), and a seven-time MLA, who ran for the eighth term and won from the BTM Layout constituency. From 1989 to 2004, he competed from Jayanagr seat, and after demarcation in 2008, chose to compete from BTM Layout, an IT hub.
In 2018, Reddy, who had served as a minister in Veerappa Moily’s government in 1992, N Dharam Singh’s government in 2004 and Siddaramiah’s government between 2013 and 2018, had won against BJP’s Lallesh Reddy by a margin of 20,478 votes. The 70-year-old leader won in 2013 by a margin of 49,048 votes.
Krishna Byre Gowda
Former Rural Development Minister and Panchayat Raj and Congress MLA Krishna Byre Gowda won the Byatarayanapura Assembly seat, taking 1,60,182 votes out of 2,94,274 votes, defeating his closest rival Thammesh Gowda HC of the BJP. Krisha managed to get a vote share of 54.43 votes.
In the 2018 elections, he had won the seat from the nearest BJP rival by a margin of 5,671 votes. He had received 1,14,964 votes, while A Ravi of the BJP obtained 1,09,293 votes. He also won in 2013 with 32,400 votes.
Satish Jarkiholi
Scheduled tribal leader Satish Jarkiholi won from the seat by a huge margin of 57,211 votes, securing 1,00,290 votes by defeating his closest rival from the BJP, Basavaraj Hundri, who received 43,079 votes.
The working Congress president, considered a rationalist in progressive circles, is a three-time legislator from Yemkanmardi, an ST reserved constituency in Belagavi district. Ahead of the April poll, Jarkiholi had announced he would launch his election campaign by saying prayers in front of two campaign vehicles in a graveyard. Interestingly enough, he had also said that he would submit his nomination papers during “Rahu Kaal” which the ruthless anti-superstition campaigner did and submitted it on April 21, the last day of submitting nominations.
Priyank Kharge
Congress Chairman Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge won against Chittapur constituency in Karnataka on Saturday by a margin of 13,640 votes, recording his third consecutive victory from the seat. This was Priyank Kharge’s first electoral test after his father took over the reins of the Congress party.
Priyank Kharge received 81,323 votes against 67,683 votes from his BJP rival Manikanta Rathod, according to the Election Commission website. His margin of victory was better than his 2018 performance when he defeated BJP’s Valmiki Naik by 4,393 votes.
KJ George
Congress leader and former minister KJ George won his sixth victory from Sarvagnanagar constituency in Bengaluru. He won 1,18,783 votes against BJP candidate Padmanabha Reddy.
UT Khader
Former minister UT Khader recorded his fifth consecutive victory from Mangalore constituency by a margin of over 22,000 votes. He was a member of the Siddaramaiah cabinet and headed the health, food and urban development departments from 2013-2018. He is currently deputy leader of the opposition. after his father UT Fareed represented Ullal (now Mangalore) constituency for 18 years, Khader took over in 2007.
