In a surprise move, President Droupadi Murmu has appointed former Karnataka minister C.H. Vijayashankar, 67, as the Governor of Meghalaya. The two-time MP from Mysuru has had a chequered political career, having represented both the BJP and the Congress.
Vijayashankar, a Kuruba leader from Mysuru, helped BJP make inroads into the Congress bastion of Mysuru-Kodagu constituency in 1998 and 2004 Lok Sabha elections. But he lost the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Hassan constituency against JDS patriarch and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda.
Vijayashankar who quit the BJP in 2017 joined the Congress the following year. He was fielded as the Congress-JDS coalition candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Mysuru on a Congress ticket. But he lost to BJP's Hindutva poster boy Pratap Simha by over 1.38 lakh votes.
He returned to the BJP in November 2019 stating that he was being sidelined in the Congress party which is entangled in the "original" versus "migrant" Congressmen. He had also claimed that fellow Kuruba, the incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was also being treated as an "outsider" even after his first stint as the chief minister (2013-2018) within the party. In 2023, Vijayashankar contested and lost the Periyapatna (Mysuru) seat in the Assembly polls.
A former cabinet minister, Vijayashankar has held various portfolios, including forest department, ecology and environment department, and small scale industries. He was also a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council from 2010 to 2016.
An arts graduate, Vijayashankar was born in Ranebennur in Haveri district and in his latest election affidavit, he has declared assets worth Rs 6 crore.
Vijayashankar's appointment comes as a surprise, given his recent electoral losses and party hopping. However, his experience and seniority in politics may have contributed to his selection for the prestigious post.
