With the induction of K S Eshwarappa as Deputy CM into the Jagadish Shetter’s Cabinet, Shimoga district will regain its prominence in the government configuration.
For the district BJP workers, the swearing-in of Eshwarappa, the sitting MLA from Shimoga city, is an occasion to cherish.
When the BJP state president becomes the third Deputy CM from Shimoga on Thursday, more than 3,000 party workers from the Assembly constituency would have reached Bangalore in 80 buses.
The first deputy CM from the district was Janata Dal leader J H Patel (in the S R Bommai cabinet), and the second was B S Yeddyurappa (in the H D Kumaraswamy cabinet).
Coming from the RSS stronghold, Eshwarappa became district BJP unit president in 1982, and his efforts were said to be the main reason for the victory of the first BJP MLA from Shimoga, late M Anandarao.
Eshwarappa contested the Assembly elections from Shimoga in 1989, and defeated K H Srinivas (Congress), the then health minister.
Eshwarappa was jailed during the 1975 Emergency. He was appointed state BJP Yuva Morcha president in 1991, and in 1993, he became the state BJP president.
He got a second term in 1995, when he was also elected as MLA for the second time. In 1999, he lost the Assembly election.
Two years later, he was defeated by H D Deve Gowda in the Kanakapura LS by-election.
Eshwarappa was appointed chairman of the Central Silk Board for two terms. He entered the state Assembly for the third time in 2004, and the fourth time in 2008. He also served as water resources minister (JD(S)-BJP government), and energy minister (BJP government).