Political Leadership and Development in Karnataka: Some reflections | P. S. Jayaramu

This write up is a reflection on the important policy initiatives taken by some selected chief ministers of Karnataka when they were in power for the overall development of Karnataka.

Let me start my analysis from from the beginning . Following the dissolution of the Mysore Representative Assembly and the Council in 1947, K. C. Reddy became the first Chief Minister of the State. He was chosen for Office as he had led the Mysore Congress twice from 1937-38 and 1946-47, apart from being a member of the Constituent Assembly. He laid the foundation for the development of the new State. It is seldom known that the Vidhana Soudha Project was initiated by him and was carried forward by his successor Kengal Hanumanthaiah.

Hanumantaiah had larger goals carved out for the State. His vision was to set in motion the process for the Unification of the State by integrating the Hyderabad-Karnatak and Mumbai-Karnatak regions. He was cautioned by his friends that integration would result in a diminished role of the Vokkaligas in State politics. But he brushed aside such advice, rose above caste considerations and as a Statesman prepared the ground for the State’s reorganisation.

S. Nijalingappa stands out as the maker of Modern Mysore. He brought about the Unification of the State by deftly balancing the pulls and pressures of the different regions. The administrative problems of integrating the regions which were following different laws and fecilitating the emotional integration of the people of different backgrounds fell on Nijalingappa’s shoulders. Nijalingappa is also credited with the vision of starting the Sharavathi Hydro electric project. During his time, the State had surplus power. Veerendra Patil who succeeded Nijalinppa was an able administrator. His focus during his two terms in office , during different periods, was on power generation and distribution and strengthening the finances of the State. Using his vast administrative experience, he produced surplus budgets.

Devaraj Urs who was the first Chief Minister from the non-dominant OBC (Arasu) community was also a visionary who brought about land reforms by making the tiller the owner of the land. He set up Land Tribunals to implement his reform measures. As a champion of the backward classes and an astute politician, Urs not only reserved positions for the OBCs in education and employment, but also forged an alliance with the Dalits to ensure a greater say for them in State politics.

Ramakrishna Hegde, who became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of the State, was a highly educated and cultured politician. He too was a visionary who showed exemplary committment to democratic decentralisation and his stress on value-based politics. Hegde-Nazir Sab combine introduced the historic three-tier Panchayati Raj system by starting Zilla Panchayats, Taluk Panchayats and Mandal Panchayats at the district, taluka and village levels. Hegde also took the historic decision to reserve seats for women in Panchayat bodies.

S. M. Krishna whose, Congress Government enjoyed a huge majority, focussed his attention on improving the image of Bangalore through his support for the IT-BT industries in the capital city. During his tenure, Bangalore came to be referred to as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of India. Elevating Bangalore to the level of Singapore too was his wish. More importantly, S.M.Krishna initiated wide range of reforms in governance and taxation to make administration efficient and transparent by enacting the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act in 2002. He also brought about reforms in the power (electricity) sector by replacing the Electricity Board by the Karnataka Power Transmission Company Limited (KPTCL) under the Companies Act. He also started E-governance in delivery of public services, through the Bhoomi, Khajane and Mahithi ( information) projects through the Bangalore One Centres.

Deve Gowda as Chief Minister during 1994-96, took keen interest in agriculture and irrigation. He started the Upper Krishna Project. His commitment to social justice for women resulted in 30 percent Government jobs being reserved for women. The fourth stage of the Cauvery water project to increase water supply to Bangalore and the 5th and 6th units of the Raichur Power Plants were also commissioned by him.

As chief ministers, J. H. Patel and Bangarappa were socialists by orientation. Patel established seven new districts, which was a long-pending demand. Bangarappa’s Ashraya’ scheme, meant for the construction of houses for the poor has been continued by successive leaders under different names.

During his two stints as as Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy, like his father, laid emphasis on agriculture and irrigation. He introduced the novel scheme of grama vastavya to provide ‘instant solutions’ to the problems of the poor. He also initiated the practice of having the winter session of the State Legislature in Belgaum, which has been continued by successive Governments.

B. S. Yeddyurappa, who was the first BJP Chief Minister with his commitment to the cause of farmers, presented the first-ever agricultural budget, waived off farmers’ loans, allocated a whopping Rs 17788 crores for agriculture related activities like horticulture and animal husbandry and announced free power supply to the farmers. There was a continuity in these Policies during BSY’s second term, before he was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai by the central leadership of the BJP. Bommai, who was a weak leader and did not enjoy a pan-Karnataka image, got involved in the implementation of the RSS agenda in the State which finally led to the rout of the BJP at the hustlings in the Assembly elections held in May 2023. Mention must made of Sadananda Gowda’s ‘sakala’ scheme for time-bound clearance of files by officers, which was appreciated by the World Bank.

The Congress Party came back to power in 2013 under the leadership of Siddaramaiah. As Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah came up with many welfare programmes. Notable among them were the Anna Bhagya scheme providing subsidised food grains largely to the poor, kshreera Bhagya, providing 150ml of milk to school children and a host of other schemes like the Vasati Bhagya to provide shelter to the poor SC, ST families.

During his second stint as CM since 2023, Siddaramaiah has continued with many of his pro-poor schemes, through the five guarantees schemes like the free bus travel to women throughout the State, free electricity to all within the limit of 200 units, unemployment allowance scheme to the graduate and postgraduate students for a period of two years from the year of their passing out, etc. It is widely known that the Congress Party under Siddaramaiah was voted to power largely because of the guarantee schemes, which were also used as populist policy measures to help the Party to come to power in Telangana. The populist schemes have been strongly defended by chief minister Siddaramaiah as welfare measures initiated for the benefit of the poor, women and youth. The guarantees schemes have cost the the state exchequer heavily, leading to rise in government borrowings. By 2025-26, the State’s total liability is expected to be Rs 7.64 lakh crores from Rs 6.85 lakh crores in 2024-25. (The Hindu, 8th March, 2025). Though the government has been denying that the State’s finances are under stress, it is widely believed that developmental work has suffered on account of the financial strain in the implementation of the guarantee schemes. It is well known that some influential leaders in the government are asking for a review of the schemes.

The above facts and figures notwithstanding, the image of Siddaramaiah as a non-corrupt politician took a beating in the MUDA site allotment case to his wife. The State Lok Ayukta which carried out an enquiry at the direction of the State High Court absolved him of any misuse of his position. Subsequently, the High Court refused to transfer the MUDA case against Siddaramaiah to the CBI pointing out that it was satisfied with the impartiality of the Lok Ayukta enquiry about the issue. Be that as it may, factionalism within the Party and the continuing tussle between the CM and the Deputy CM, D.K. Shiva Kumar, with the latter bent on being made the chief minister after the expiry of two and a half years of the government are challenges faced by the government which otherwise enjoys a very comfortable majority in the Legislature.

In conclusion, it may be affirmed that while in power, most chief ministers referred to above, crafted policies aimed at contributing to the development of the State by pursuing a mix of populist and welfare measures.

(Author : Prof. P. S. Jayaramu is former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Bangalore University and former Senior Fellow, ICSSR, New Delhi)