Former Karnataka chief minister N. Dharam Singh (80) passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Thursday morning after suffering a cardiac arrest.
The state government has announced three-day state mourning, and holiday for government offices, schools and colleges on Thursday. Singh's last rites will be performed with state honours at Kalburgi on Friday.
Born in Nilogi village in Kalburgi, on December 25, 1936, Singh studied MA and LLB from Osmania University in Hyderabad. He was a practising advocate when he joined the Indian National Congress in 1960s. He has been a staunch loyalist of the party and was one of the handful of Congress leaders who stood by Indira Gandhi when the INC split in 1969. He even vacated his Gulbarga Lok Sabha seat to accommodate C.M. Stephen, the then union home minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet, after he lost the election in Delhi to Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
A sober politician nicknamed ajaatha shatru (a man without enemies), Singh belongs to Rajput community. He has handled various portfolios—from home, excise, urban development, PWD to social welfare and revenue in the cabinets of D. Devaraj Urs, R. Gundu Rao, S Bangarappa, Veerendra Patil and S.M. Krishna. As a sitting MP of Bidar, he last contested in 2014, but lost to BJP's Bhagwanth Khuba.
Winning seven consecutive terms from one of the most backward assembly constituencies—Jewargi in Kalburgi—Singh became the 17th chief minister of Karnataka (May 2004 to February 2006) in the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government.
Singh was one of the leaders instrumental in the amendment to the Constitution (Article 371 J) to remove regional disparities and to establish the Hyderabad-Karnataka Development Board.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in his condolence message, said he was deeply saddened by Singh's demise. Recalling his stint as a deputy chief minister in Dharam Singh's cabinet, Siddaramaiah said, “The freedom and affection I experienced from Singh as his deputy is unforgettable. He is a rare politician who has the experience of handling a majority of portfolios. His friendship and bond with Mallikarjuna Kharge was well-known not only in the state but at the national level too.”
An inconsolable Kharge said he had lost an “elder brother”.
Former chief minister and state JD(S) president H.D. Kumaraswamy remembered the time when he visited Singh at his residence soon after the JD(S) had pulled out of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and joined hands with the BJP to form a new coalition. “When I met him, he was not angry or bitter though I had hurt him. He was warm and affectionate toward me,” recounted Kumaraswamy.
The veteran Congress leader leaves behind his wife, three children including MLC Vijay Singh and MLA Ajay Singh.
