G. Parameshwara


Parameshwara Gangadharaiah better known by name Dr. G. Parameshwara, is an Indian politician who was the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka. He is the first Dalit leader to hold the Deputy Chief Minister post in Karnataka and also the longest-served President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee for two consecutive terms.

Early life and education

Parameshwara was born on 6 August 1951, at Gollahalli in Tumkur. He was born to Gangamalamma Chikkanna and Former MLC Gangadharaiah Hebbalalu Mariyappa. Gangadharaiah hailed from Hebbalalu village in Amruthuru hobli of Kunigal taluk, now in Magadi taluk of Ramanagara district, before shifting to Gangamalamma's village Gollahalli in Tumakuru rural, Parameshwara is the third sibling after older brother Dr G. Shivaprasad.
He studied primary education at Government School in Gollahalli and Heggere, Tumkur. He went to Sri Siddhartha High School at Siddartha Nagar, which was established by his father in 1959. He joined Government Pre-University College in Tumkur and after Pre-University College went on to study for a B.Sc. in Agriculture in the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, followed by an M.Sc. in Agriculture at the same college. After Post-Graduating, Parameshwara had briefly worked as Research Assistant in Department of Plant Physiology at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Later, Parameshwara went to overseas and obtained a PhD from Waite Agricultural Research Centre, the University of Adelaide in Plant Physiology.
He joined the National Cadet Corps at an early age. He was an athlete, has a record 10.9 seconds of 100 metres race in University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, He represented Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra College in Inter-College/University and Karnataka state in Indian level.

Career

Parameshwara was an Administrative Officer in Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology when he came back from Australia. Before this, Parameshwara had briefly worked as Research assistant in Department of Plant Physiology at UAS, Bangalore.
In mid 1988, he helped his father to establish Sri Siddhartha Medical College, Hospital & Research Centre, which was earlier rejected by Medical Council of India & Ramakrishna Hegde's Government but Bangalore University had approved and later Supreme Court of India gave permission to sanction Sri Siddhartha Medical College.
In 1989, for the inauguration of the Sri Siddhartha Medical College, Parameshwara along with the Education Minister S. M. Yahya and Mallikarjun Kharge who was then President of the Sri Siddhartha Education Society, went on to invite Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, when Parameshwara went for the third time with S. M. Yahya to meet Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi told Parameshwara to join politics and eventually S. M. Yahya took Parameshwara to then AICC general secretary Mohsina Kidwai and made him Joint Secretary of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

Political career

Tumkur University

G. Parameshwara was chairman on board for Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000 and then he was Higher Education minister in S. M. Krishna Cabinet who piloted a Bill '' in February 2004 for an exclusive University in Tumkur.
This act carved out half of Bangalore University to make Tumkur University at Tumkur for Tumkur, Kolar and Bangalore Rural. In the beginning, they created Dr Ambedkar Bhavan for office purposes about 3 years as 200acres land for the university wasn't available in Tumkur. Later vast land of Govt. Science & Arts College was used for University.
On 12 January 2007, Tumkur University was inaugurated by Governor T. N. Chaturvedi and Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy after 3 years of passing Bill. It was delayed due to lack of infrastructure and funds from the successor coalition government. and then Chief Minister Dharam Singh who had announced the withdrawal of the government order which froze the setting up of Tumkur university.

Positions in political party

#FromToPosition
0119891992Joint Secretary, KPCC
0219921997General Secretary, KPCC
0319971999Vice President, KPCC
0420072009Member, Congress Working Committee
0520102018President, KPCC
0620102017Chairman of Campaign Committee, KPCC

Minister in different ministries

Personal life

Parameshwara married Kannika Parameshwari, his friend's sister. The two had met while Parmeshwar was studying in Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra later married in 1982 in Tumkur as per Buddhist norms. They have one daughter named Shana Parmeshwar who lives in London. Parameshwara believes in Buddhism and its philosophy. Parameshwara is an art collector and artefacts picked up by him on his visits to many places.

Appointments and fellowships

Parameshwara has held various appointments and fellowships. These include: