BENGALURU: Not many politicians may have held positions as Somanahalli Mallaiah Krishna—SMK to his friends and the inner circle—did in his political career spanning over five decades.
Suave and sophisticated with outstanding academic credentials, Krishna played his part with aplomb as the chief minister in promoting the tech sector in Karnataka and building “Brand Bengaluru.”.
From being a minister on different occasions in the state and at the central government and a Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha member to heading the Congress in Karnataka—he indeed had a long innings.
He served as a member of the legislative council, assembly, speaker, deputy chief minister, union external affairs minister, and governor.
“He played a proactive role in putting Bengaluru on the global map,” a senior information technology industry executive said.
“He gave a boost to the IT sector during his tenure as the chief minister, resulting in Bengaluru growing as an alternative to Silicon Valley in California and generating jobs for youths,” he added.
Born in Somanahalli in Karnataka’s Mandya district on May 1, 1932, Krishna kicked off his electoral foray in style, winning as an independent candidate from the Maddur seat against Congress stalwart K. V. Shankar Gowda in the 1962 assembly elections.
He later associated himself with the Praja Socialist Party before joining the Congress.
A graduate of Maharaja’s College, Mysuru, he obtained a law degree from the Government Law College here.
Further, he studied at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, US, and later at George Washington University, where he was a Fulbright Scholar.
In India, he worked as a professor of international law at Renukacharya Law College.
He debuted in the Parliament in 1968 as a ‘Socialist’ MP and became a member of the fourth Lok Sabha.
Krishna was elected to the fifth Lok Sabha too but preferred to return to state politics in 1972 when he was elected to the Legislative Council and inducted as Minister for Commerce, Industries, and Parliamentary Affairs, a charge he held between 1972 and 1977.
In 1980, he returned to the Lok Sabha and served as the Minister of State for Industry from 1983-84 and Minister of State for Finance from 1984-85.
Krishna, an attorney-at-law, became the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1989 and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka in 1992. Elected to Rajya Sabha in 1996, he was its member till October 1999.
He was Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president ahead of the 1999 assembly polls in which the party won.
He was Chief Minister from October 1999 to May 2004. He served as the Governor of Maharashtra from December 2004 to March 2008 and as the External Affairs Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led government from May 2009 to October 2012.
In 2017, he joined the BJP, ending his nearly 50-year-long association with the Congress.
He announced his retirement from politics on January 7, 2023.
Krishna is survived by his wife, Prema Krishna, and two daughters—Malavika Krishna and Shambhavi Krishna.
