Senior politician and the first State president of the BJP A.K. Subbaiah, 85, who passed away in Bengaluru on Tuesday, was responsible for the party taking roots in the State in the 1980s. Later in life, this plain-speaking politician, was also one of the saffron party’s most bitter critics.
Mr. Subbaiah (called AKS) was an enigma for many. He was born on August, 9, 1936, in Belluru village of Virajpet taluk. He began his career as an advocate but then moved to politics. He was imprisoned during the Emergency, later drifted towards Bharatiya Jana Sangh and was elected the first State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980. Known for his fiery speeches, he played a major role in the BJP’s expansion during its infancy in Karnataka along with others like V.S. Acharya and B.S. Yediyurappa. So much so, that by 1983, the BJP had emerged as a significant political force in Karnataka. AKS had rocked the Congress government of Gundu Rao exposing some of its scandals, and the BJP contested in the Assembly elections on its own and won 18 seats.
In view of a hung Assembly and at the instance of the party’s national leadership, BJP ended up extending outside support to the Janata Party which had won 95 seats and formed the government with Ramakrishna Hegde as Chief Minister.