The Congress party won a landslide victory in the Karnataka elections bagging 135 seats in the 224-member Assembly in the May 10 polls. The party’s brilliant ground management, with leaders restricting themselves to raking up local issues, was one of the key factors for the party’s resounding victory, climbing from 80 in the last elections to 135 seats now.
As results have now been declared, all eyes are on the Chief Minister’s post. Veteran leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, who won from the Varuna and Kanakapura seats, respectively, are the probable names. The swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place on May 18, and along with the CM, cabinet ministers will also possibly take oath.
While the top two leaders — Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar — are being credited for the Congress’s victory in the state, there are several other party leaders who have made a mark with their spectacular victories.
While the jury is still out on who will be the new Karnataka CM, the allocation of portfolios and choice of ministers becomes increasingly crucial for the Congress.
Here are 8 likely frontrunners for a Karnataka Cabinet minister’s post:
G Parameshwara
Senior Congress leader and former minister G Parameshwara won from his Koratagere constituency 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 as against his nearest rival PR Sudhakar Lal from JD(S) who won 64,752. Earlier, he had announced himself as a Chief Minister aspirant for Karnataka, along with DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah.
MB Patil
Congress leader and former home and water resources minister MB Patil won from the Babaleshwar seat beating nearest rival BJP candidate Vijayakumar Patil by a margin of 15,216 votes of the 1,79,186 votes polled.
The former minister and Lingayat leader secured 93,293 votes and managed to get a vote share of 52.42 per cent, while Vijayakumar got a vote share of 43.92 per cent from the Babaleshwar constituency, which is in the Mumbai Karnataka region (Kittur Karnataka) and Bijapur district of the state. In 2018, the Congress party had 57.29 per cent vote share.
Ramalinga Reddy
Congress veteran Ramalinga Reddy retained his BTM Layout Assembly seat beating his nearest rival in the May 13 polls garnering 68,557 votes. BJP candidate KR Sridhara won 59,335 votes out of the 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 contested and won for the eighth term from the BTM Layout constituency. From 1989 to 2004, he had been contesting from the Jayanagr seat, and after delimitation in 2008, he chose to contest from BTM Layout, an IT hub.
In 2018, Reddy, who had served as a minister in the Veerappa Moily government in 1992, the N Dharam Singh government in 2004 and the Siddaramiah 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 by a margin of 49,048 votes in 2013.
Krishna Byre Gowda
Former Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister and Congress MLA Krishna Byre Gowda won from the Byatarayanapura Assembly seat garnering 1,60,182 votes out of 2,94,274 votes beating his nearest rival Thammesh Gowda HC from the BJP. Krisha managed to get a vote share of 54.43 votes.
In the 2018 elections, he had won the seat winning against the nearest BJP rival by a margin of 5,671 votes. He had got 1,14,964 votes, while A Ravi from the BJP secured 1,09,293 votes. In 2013, too, he had won by 32,400 votes.
Satish Jarkiholi
Scheduled Tribe leader Satish Jarkiholi won from the seat by a huge margin of 57,211 votes, managing to get 1,00,290 votes beating his nearest rival of the BJP, Basavaraj Hundri, who garnered 43,079 votes.
The Congress working president who is considered to be a rationalist in the progressive circles, is a three-time legislator from Yemkanmardi, an ST reserved constituency in Belagavi district. Ahead of sounding the poll bugle in April, Jarkiholi had announced that he will launch his election campaign by offering prayers to two vehicles, meant for campaigning, at a graveyard. Interestingly, he had also said that he would file his nomination papers during “Rahu Kaal”, which the relentless campaigner against superstitions did, and filed it on April 21, the last day of filing nominations.
Priyank Kharge
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge on Saturday won from the Chittapur constituency in Karnataka 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 bagged 81,323 votes against 67,683 polled by his BJP rival Manikanta Rathod, according to the Election Commission website. His victory margin was better than his performance in 2018 when he defeated BJP’s Valmiki Naik by 4,393 votes.
KJ George
Congress leader and former minister KJ George won his sixth win from the Sarvagnanagar constituency in Bengaluru. He won 1,18,783 votes as against BJP candidate Padmanabha Reddy.
UT Khader
Former minister UT Khader registered his fifth consecutive win from the Mangalore constituency by a margin of over 22,000 votes. He was a member of the Siddaramaiah cabinet and headed health, food and urban development departments from 2013-2018. He is currently the deputy Opposition leader. after his father UT Fareed who represented the Ullal constituency (now Mangalore) for 18 years, Khadertook over in 2007.
