Dharam Singh was the 17th Chief Minister of Karnataka, a state in southern India, from 2004 to 2006 and a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly for seven consecutive terms and a Member of Parliament representing Bidar in the 14th Lok Sabha. He was one of the front-ranking leaders of North Karnataka region who had earned the sobriquet “ajatashatru” (a man without enemies).
Early Life
Shri N Dharam Singh was born in Nelogi village of Jevargi taluk in Kalaburagi district in a Rajput Community. He obtained his MA and LLB degrees from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Political Career
Dharam Singh's political career started a socialist and an Independent Corporator in the Kalaburagi district City Municipal Council by contesting against his own brother. He was brought up under the pulsating influence of Bhim Sena founder B.Shyam Sunder.
In fact he was his election agent who contested for Parliamentary seats from Kalaburgi and Bidar and Mr. Singh toured along with him to these districts. He was the Secretary of Hyderabad Karnataka Youth League.
In the late 1960s, he joined the Indian National Congress without leaving the party even when it passed through its worst times of D. Devraj Urs, where he formed his own outfit getting separated from the INC. This made him a strong contender for the post of Chief Minister in 2004 and first choice for Sonia Gandhi among this set of leaders from North Karnataka of Kalaburgi District.
He believed in the shishya parampara (Teacher disciple) tradition, which played a major role in deciding politics which was noticed by the people with Mallikarjun Kharge and Dharam Singh.
He even gave up the Kalaburgi Lok Sabha seat of which he was the Member of Parliament to accommodate C.M. Stephen, who was a Union Minister in the Indira Gandhi Cabinet, in 1980 on Indira Gandhi's directions.
He has served as a minister under various chief ministers such as Devaraj Urs, R. Gundu Rao, S. Bangarappa, M. Veerappa Moily and S. M. Krishna, and has handled diverse portfolios such as Home, Excise, Social Welfare, Urban Development and Revenue. He was KPCC president in the 1990s when his party was out of power. He contested as a CM in 1999 but lost to S.M.Krishna.
Singh was known for his adaptability and friendly nature which helped him become a unanimous choice as a CM on 28th May 2004 when there was a hung assembly in the state elections for 20 months.
During his reign he was criticized for not being assertive in sense coming from a minority community and further allowing the JD(S) supremo to join hands, which was their junior partner in coalition to call the shots in the government. He left office on 3 February 2006 after the collapse of the Coalition government formed by the Congress due to a defection in the JD(S) engineered by H.D Kumaraswam.
Dharam Singh was the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. However, in the 2008 state elections he was defeated by a political lightweight, Doddappagouda Patil Naribol of the BJP, by a slim margin of 52 postal votes.
In the Lok Sabha elections held in May 2009, he contested from Bidar Lok Sabha constituency and emerged victorious against his former colleague Bhagwant Khuba of the BJP by a huge margin of 92,222 votes.
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