Obituary | D. Sudhakar turned political adversities into advantages

Karnataka’s Planning Minister Dasharathaiah Sudhakar, who died on Sunday (May 10, 2026), was a fourth-time MLA who turned political adversities into advantages.

Mr. Sudhakar, who used to maintain a low profile, was elected to the Karnataka Assembly for the first time from Challakere in 2004 on Congress ticket. Later, he shifted to the nearby Hiriyur as Challakere was reserved for ST.

When the Congress denied ticket to him in 2008 from Hiriyur, he contested as an independent and managed to defeat the Congress nominee. The Congress denying ticket to him turned out to be his advantage as the BJP that was short of majority offered him a ministerial berth by taking his support to its government led by B.S. Yediyurappa. This marked the beginning of his political growth.

However, he went back to Congress and contested on its ticket successfully in 2013. In 2016, he was made the chairman of State-held KEONICS. He also became the chairman of the Chitradurga District Credit Co-operative Bank.

But he lost the polls in 2018 and managed to win again in 2023, and also become a Minister again.

Politician who vouched for rainwater harvesting

There was one little known fact about Minister D. Sudhakar, who generally maintained a low profile, and kept away from lime light.

While a lot of politicians often refer to rainwater harvesting in their public speeches, Mr. Sudhakar was among those who not only vouched for rainwater harvesting, but also became adopted and promoted it. He had installed rainwater harvesting facility at his home in challakere of Chitradurga district as well as Bengaluru residence.

In a chat with The Hindu sometime ago, the minister had revealed that he uses only rainwater for drinking purposes as its quality would be superior to other sources of water. Hailing from a parched district like Chitradurga, he was of the opinion that rainwater harvesting was the best way to fight water shortage.

Hydrogeologist  Dr. N. J. Devaraja Reddy, who has been promoting and providing consultation on rainwater harvesting, says that Sudhakar had installed a rainwater harvesting facility with a capacity of 50,000 litres about 20 years ago itself. “He had understood the worth of rainwater harvesting and played a role in encouraging others to adopt such a eco-friendly measure. In fact, he had taken the initiative of installing rainwater harvesting structures for two schools in his constituency when he became social welfare minister in the BJP government in 2008. This had created awareness about rainwater harvesting among others,” notes Dr. Reddy.