Hirisave Chowdegowda Srikantaiah (18 July 1926 - 12 March 2011) was an Indian politician with the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

party and a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

9th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 9th Lok Sabha (2 December 1989 – 13 March 1991) elections in 22–26 November 1989. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. Twelve sitting members from Rajya Sabha were electe ...

. He was elected to

Karnataka Legislative Assembly The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses ar ...

from

Shravanabelagola Shravanabelagola () is a town located near Channarayapatna of Hassan district in the Indian state of Karnataka and is from Bengaluru. The Gommateshwara Bahubali statue at Shravanabelagola is one of the most important tirthas (pilgrimage des ...

assembly constituency in

Hassan Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to: People *Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name *Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scottis ...

from 1972 to 1985 and from 1999 to 2004. He was a Minister in

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

in cabinets of

Devaraj Urs Devaraj Devaraj Urs (20 August 1915 – 6 June 1982) was an Indian politician who served two terms as the eighth Chief Minister of Karnataka (1972–77, 1978–80), a state in southern India. He is also the longest serving Chief Minister of ...

Veerendra Patil Veerendra Basappa Patil (Kannada: ವೀರೇಂದ್ರ ಪಾಟೀಲ್; 28 February 1924 – 14 March 1997) was a senior Indian politician and was twice, the List of Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Chief Minister of Karnataka. He becam ...

and S.M Krishna holding portfolios such as Revenue, Urban Development, Forest, Minor Irrigation, Public Works and Municipal Administration.

Early life and family

H.C Srikantaiah was born in

Hirisave Hirisave is a village in the Hassan district of the state of Karnataka, India. It is near the Jain pilgrimage centre of Shravanabelagola. It lies on the National Highway which connects Bangalore and Mangalore Mangalore (), officially kn ...

village of

Channarayapatna Channarayapatna is a town and Taluk headquarters in Hassan district of Karnataka, India. It lies on the Bangalore-Mangalore National Highway 75 in Karnataka, India.It has number of temples like Channakeshava temple, Anjaneya temple, Tejigereyam ...

taluk in Hassan district of the erstwhile

Mysore State Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's capital. ...

(in present-day

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

). He married Nagamma in 1948. They had 3 sons and 5 daughters. He was from the

Vokkaliga Vokkaliga (also transliterated as Vokkaligar, Vakkaliga, Wakkaliga, Okkaligar, Okkiliyan) is a community, or a group of closely-related castes, from the Indian state of Karnataka. They are also present in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu. As ...

community in

. His eldest son H. S. Chandru died on 29 December 2020 in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. He was survived by son H. C. Lalithraghav and a daughter.

Political career

H.C Srikantaiah began his political career by winning as an independent candidate from

assembly constituency in

in 1972. He later joined

and won continuously until 1985. He was a member of

from 1972 to 1985 and from 1999 to 2004. Srikantaiah was a Minister in Karnataka for almost 20 years. In 1980 H.C Srikantaiah famously defected 84 MLA's from the Congress (U) to

Congress (I) Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) was created in 1969; it was created and led by Indira Gandhi. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the New Congress or Syndicate. The letter 'R' st ...

to form the Government in Karnataka thus ending

Devraj Urs Devaraj Devaraj Urs (20 August 1915 – 6 June 1982) was an Indian politician who served two terms as the eighth Chief Minister of Karnataka (1972–77, 1978–80), a state in southern India. He is also the longest serving Chief Minister of Ka ...

tenure as

Chief Minister of Karnataka The chief minister of Karnataka, formerly known as the chief minister of Mysore, is the chief executive officer of the government of the Indian state of Karnataka. As per the Constitution of India, the governor of Karnataka is the state's ''de j ...

for the second term. Srikantaiah had a chance to become the

Chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

after the defection of the 84 MLA's but Gundu Rao was picked for the post by

Sanjay Gandhi Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician and the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. He was a member of parliament, Lok Sabha and the Nehru–Gandhi family. During his lifetime, he was widely expected ...

. He was the Minister for Cooperation in Gundu Rao ministry. After spending nearly four decades in the

, Srikantaiah joined the

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

ahead of 2009 Parliament elections.

Key Contributions

Abolition of Stamp Papers The stamp paper piracy was one of the biggest scams in the recent history of the country which has caused huge losses beyond estimation to the state exchequer. The pioneering idea of abolishing the stamp papers and an alternative foolproof system was introduced by Sri. H.C Srikantaiah during his tenure of Revenue Minister.

Death

He died on 12 March 2011, at a private hospital in Bangalore after a prolonged illness. He was 85. He was cremated in his birthplace

village of

taluk in Hassan district with state honours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Srikantaiah, H.C Government of Karnataka 1926 births 2011 deaths Lok Sabha members from Karnataka Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka Mysore MLAs 1972–1977 Members of the Karnataka Legislative Council Karnataka MLAs 1978–1983 Karnataka MLAs 1983–1985 Karnataka MLAs 1985–1989 Karnataka MLAs 1989–1994 Karnataka MLAs 1994–1999 Karnataka MLAs 1999–2004 Karnataka MLAs 2004–2007