ED lens on Karnataka Home Minister and long-time wannabe CM: Who is G Parameshwara?

The ED and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have taken over the probe. On Wednesday, the ED searched 16 premises, including institutions owned by Parameshwara: the Sri Siddhartha Medical College and Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology in Tumakuru and Sri Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences in Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bengaluru. Parameshwara is the Chancellor of the Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, and it is alleged that Rao was paid Rs 40 lakh by the trust that runs the Academy.

On Thursday, the Home Minister assured full cooperation with the ED. “As a person who believes in the law of the land, I am prepared to cooperate with these verifications or searches,” he said. On allegations that Rs 40 lakh from the trust was used to pay Rao’s credit card bill, he declined to comment, saying he would respond once the investigation was complete.

Shivakumar on Thursday jumped to the defence of his ministerial colleague and rival for the CM post, saying the payment may have been a gift during a wedding in Rao’s family. Rao is the stepdaughter of senior IPS officer Ramachandra Rao, who was sent on compulsory leave after her arrest.

“He has given 25 lakh or Rs 15 lakh, he might have given it as a gift during a wedding in her family,” Shivakumar said, adding that there was nothing wrong with it. “As far as Parameshwara is concerned, he meets thousands of people every day. He doesn’t know who does what. The law will take its course and we don’t want to interfere with the law.”

Key Dalit face in Congress

One of the two sons of former MLC H M Gangadharaiah, Parameshwara was born in a politically influential family. His father was the founder of the Sri Siddhartha Education Society. Belonging to the Chalavadi community, a Scheduled Caste group, he is the longest-serving state Congress president, heading the party from October 2010 to July 2018.

Parameshwara is a six-time MLA — elected thrice from Madhugiri between 1989 and 2007 and thrice from Koratagere constituency between 2008 and 2023 — and served as the Home Minister from 2015 to 2017 in the first Siddaramaiah government. He was elevated to Deputy CM during the tenure of the short-lived JD(S)-Congress coalition government that governed the state from 2018 to July 2019.

Paramehswara was considered one of the front-runners before the 2013 Assembly elections. But he suffered a surprise loss, opening up Siddaramaiah’s path to the top job. The party subsequently sent him to the Legislative Council.

Paramehswara, however, continued to remain a contender for the top job. In June 2023, weeks after Congress came to power, he made his ambitions public by saying that several Dalit leaders had been deprived of the opportunity to become CM.

“The inferiority complex amongst us (Dalits) has to go. That’s the reason I openly say I will become the chief minister. Why should I not? K H Muniyappa (Dalit leader and Minister) should also become, why should he not?” he said, asking what the shortcomings of past Dalit leaders such as Basavalingappa or N Rachaiah were that they were unable to hold the top job.

Before Parameshwara, former minister B Nagendra was forced to resign from the Cabinet in June 2024 after the ED arrested him in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam. He received bail in October. The ED also booked Siddaramaiah in September 2024 in connection with the Mysuru Urban Development Authority scam.