Five in contention for posthumous Karnataka Ratna honour

Bengaluru: The list of winners of the ‘Karnataka Ratna’ award, the state’s highest civilian honour, could expand with the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government under pressure to consider posthumously recognizing five persons, including environmentalist Saalumarada Thimmakka and senior lawmaker Shamanur Shivashankarappa. 

Instituted in 1992, the Karnataka Ratna has been conferred upon 11 people. Late actors Vishnuvardhan and B Saroja Devi were the last two to receive the top award posthumously in September. 

The government is examining a proposal to posthumously give the Karnataka Ratna award to actor-politician Ambareesh and former chief minister S M Krishna. 

Meanwhile, the government is facing demands that Thimmakka, who died in November aged 114, and Shamanur, the 94-year-old Davangere South MLA who passed away earlier this month, should be awarded the Karnataka Ratna. The government will also have to decide on calls that have been made to honour writer S L Bhyrappa, who died aged 94 in September, with the Karnataka Ratna award. Between 1992 and 2009, eight persons received the Karnataka Ratna award, none posthumously. 

The previous Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government gave the state its ninth recipient of the Karnataka Ratna award in 2022, after a gap of 13 years, and the first posthumous winner: actor Puneeth Rajkumar, whose death pushed the state and his fans into a sea of sadness. 

Vishnuvardhan and Saroja Devi became the 10th and 11th recipients of Karnataka Ratna, also posthumously. 

The government is likely to finalise the next winners of the Karnataka Ratna sometime early 2026, according to sources in the government.