SMK held on to power one way or the other

He has served as Union minister, Speaker, CM, deputy CM, and Governor

Despite various ups and downs in his nearly six-decade-long political journey, S M Krishna has been in power in one way or the other — either in the State or at the Centre. He has been a member of the Legislative Assembly, Legislative Council, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He has served as Union minister, Speaker, deputy chief minister, chief minister and also as Governor.

Krishna began his political career in 1962 with the Praja Socialist Party and defeated seasoned politician H K Veerannagowda of the Congress in Maddur Assembly constituency. However, his attempt to seek re-election in 1967 proved futile as Veerannagowda’s son-in-law M Manchegowda won with a margin of 18,434 votes. Krishna contested the Mandya Lok Sabha polls in 1968 and defeated H D Chowdaiah. In 1971, he contested the Lok Sabha election on Jagjivan Ram Congress ticket and again won over Chowdaiah with a huge margin.

Roller-coaster ride
In 1980, he contested on a Congress ticket against C Bandigowda, who was responsible for bringing Krishna into the Congress fold. In 1980, Bandigowda was a Samajavadi Janata Party candidate. With this victory, he became the Union Minister of State for Finance.

However, in 1984, he lost to K V Shankaregowda of the Janata Party. He won from Maddur Assembly constituency in 1989 and became the Speaker and also deputy chief minister. However, he lost to Mahesh Chand, son of Manchegowda, in the 1994 polls. Thus, he became a Rajya Sabha member in 1996.

On his return to Karnataka politics again as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee  president in 1999, he became chief minister. Later, he served as the Governor of Maharashtra and entered the Rajya Sabha, which facilitated his elevation as External Affairs Minister in second term of the United Progressive Alliance government.