An unfulfilled dream of Ananth Kumar, the only national stalwart of BJP from Karnataka

Newsroom, Nov 12: Even though Ananth Kumar, who breathed his last today, had bêtes noires within the Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka, he was the only politician from this south Indian state who could make it big in the BJP’s Central political scape at a very young age.

He was the youngest minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Cabinet when he got the ministerial opportunity for the first time in 1998. He held various prominent portfolios such as Civil Aviation, Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation. In the Narendra Modi Cabinet, he handled portfolios such as Parliamentary Affairs and Chemicals & Fertilizers.

A six-term MP representing Bengaluru South constituency in the Lok Sabha continuously since 1996, Ananth Kumar never tasted electoral defeat and has the distinction of being the first person to speak in Kannada in the United Nations.

Born in a middle-class Brahmin family on July 22, 1959, in Bengaluru to Girija and Narayan Shastry, Ananth Kumar was inspired by the RSS at a young age. He graduated in the faculty of Arts (BA) from K S Arts College, Hubballi, and went on to complete his LLB. As a student leader, he was a member of Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and was imprisoned during the Emergency.

He was elected as the State Secretary of the ABVP and later became its National Secretary in 1985. Kumar was well-connected in the party and was close to the top brass in the central leadership. He was once considered the “blue-eyed boy” of former deputy prime minister L K Advani. He became the president of the Karnataka state unit of the BJP in 2003 and led the party to emerge as the single largest party in the Legislative Assembly elections the next year.

However, in spite of all these successes, the veteran BJP leader’s dream to become the chief minister of Karnataka remained unfulfilled. He nurtured the ambition of becoming chief minister, which led to him cross swords with senior leader B S Yeddyurappa on several occasions. In fact, the Ananth Kumar – Yeddyurappa rivalry was legendary in the BJP.

At one point, the central leadership is said to have told Ananth Kumar to confine himself to national politics and not interfere in the affairs of the state unit of the party. The rivalry is said to be one of the reasons for Yeddyurappa to quit the BJP to form the KJP in 2013. However, when Yeddyurappa returned to the BJP, ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Kumar warmly welcomed him back.

Kumar came close to become the chief minister in 2011 after Yeddyurappa resigned from the post following his name figuring in the Lokayukta report on illegal mining. According to party functionaries, Kumar succeeded in getting his name cleared for the post by the party central leadership. However, senior leaders, including Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and K S Eshwarappa, are said to have teamed up and succeeded in installing dark horse D V Sadananda Gowda to the top post.

With Kumar’s death, many leaders in the party feel that the leadership equilibrium is lost in Party’s Karnataka unit. Kumar was supported by his wife Tejaswini, who earned public goodwill through her NGO Adamya Chetana which is known for serving mid-day meals to schoolchildren.