S M Krishna | Natty neta who rode the gamut of politics

Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna, who passed away in Bengaluru aged 92, was easily one of the most charismatic personalities to have emerged on the Karnataka and Indian political landscape.

For those who didn’t know him well, it would have been difficult to imagine this suave, immaculately dressed, US-educated law graduate and Fulbright scholar as an Indian politician. Padma Vibhushan Krishna loved the good life but rarely shied away from the hurly-burly of political life.  

‘SMK’ as he was fondly called, hardly missed any ‘chair’ during his lengthy career that spanned seven decades. Chief minister of Karnataka, Union minister, Governor of Maharashtra, Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, Deputy CM, KPCC president were highlights of his impressive CV. He was considered for the PM’s post in 2004.

He was one of the very few politicians to have become a member of all the top four elected Houses of India - as MLA, MLC, Member of Lok Sabha and Member of Rajya Sabha. He entered the electoral scene back in 1962 by winning the Maddur Assembly seat as an Independent. He joined the Praja Socialist Party and later the Congress and became MP from Mandya. Then prime minister Indira Gandhi made him a minister in 1983. He endured shock defeats too, in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

SMK was not what they call a ‘24-hour politician’ that, say, an H D Deve Gowda, a year younger to him, is. Krishna did give time for his tennis (he never missed watching Grand Slam finals, was seen at Wimbledon often), music, art, cultural programmes, occasionally to design men’s wear and even food.

Many who didn’t like his lifestyle may have dubbed him a “five-star politician” but he never changed his ways. People perhaps liked him that way as did the media. But he had to shift out of a five-star hotel (like Shashi Tharoor) as there was an uproar that two of Manmohan Singh’s ministers were enjoying a high lifestyle at the government’s cost. His favourite five-star haunts included Claridges in Delhi and Taj West End in Bengaluru.

Four and a half years as CM was undoubtedly the high point of Krishna’s political career. His contribution to the IT sector is legendary. If Bengaluru today is the Silicon Valley of India and the city was brought on the global map, a major contribution came from him (of course, not to miss the role of the CMs before him). It was his vision that resulted in power sector reforms, radical changes leading to digitisation of land records (Bhoomi) besides many other people-friendly measures.

He gave massive impetus to the city’s infrastructure development; he set up ‘task forces’ by bringing in prominent names from the private sector – be it industry, IT and BT, medicine etc – to offer suggestions for the city’s development. He appointed trusted officers to key positions and gave them a free hand.

But recurring drought, the Cauvery tussle with Tamil Nadu and the kidnapping of Kannada icon Dr Raj Kumar by forest brigand  Veerappan troubled him no end. He was helped by his friend in the BJP, Union minister the late Ananth Kumar, who acted as a bridge between him and then PM A B Vajpayee, to resolve many crises. His Man Friday was current Deputy CM D K Shivakumar who was cooperation minister then.

Krishna was rarely friends with fellow Vokkaliga Deve Gowda but the latter as CM helped him become Rajya Sabha MP of the Congress in 1996. Two months later, when Gowda became PM, Krishna was one of the first to meet him to congratulate him. He called this journalist that night to say that “entire Karnataka was celebrating a Kannadiga becoming PM for the first time”.  SMK was not averse to leading dissidence – he was at the forefront of it when Veerappa Moily was the CM.

That he began reading a speech of his previous speaker (a Portuguese minister) at the United Nations as Indian external affairs minister, led to Krishna becoming a butt of jokes and memes. This was perhaps the biggest blot (if it can be called so) during his career. Already a target of the Opposition BJP, its leaders lampooned him for the gaffe. Krishna soon was unceremoniously removed as minister; it took time for him to come out of the humiliation.

Krishna’s last decision as a politician took everyone by surprise – in 2017 he quit the party that gave him everything, saying, “Congress needs only managers and not mass leaders (like him)”.

(B S Arun is a former Deputy Editor and Political Editor, Deccan Herald)