Last rites of minister Sudhakar performed with full State honour
The last rites of Karnataka Minister D Sudhakar were performed with full state honours at Chellakere on Monday, as a large crowd gathered to bid their final adieu to the departed leader.
The last rites were performed as per Jain traditions, with his son Suhas lighting the funeral pyre.
The Planning and Statistics Minister died early Sunday at a private hospital in Bengaluru. He had been undergoing treatment for a lung infection for some time now.
Sudhakar, a senior Congress leader and the MLA from Hiriyur in Chitradurga district, was 66. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Karnataka Assembly Speaker UT Khader, and Home Minister G Parameshwara were among the host of leaders who paid their last respects to the departed leader.
Sudhakar won his first election in 2004 from Challakere on a Congress ticket. He shifted his base to Hiriyur after Challakere became an ST-reserved constituency following delimitation. As Congress denied him the ticket in the 2008 Assembly polls, Sudhakar contested as an independent and won. He supported the then BS Yediyurappa-led BJP Government and became a Minister. He later returned to Congress and won from Hiriyur in 2013 and 2023.
According to the party leaders, Sudhakar was also a businessman who often donated to serve the needy. They said that despite being from the minority Jain community, which has a very small presence in the region, he enjoyed popularity and had political grip in both Hiriyur and Challakere.
The State Government has announced a holiday for schools, colleges and government offices in Chitradurga district on Monday. State mourning has been announced across the state for three days starting Sunday, as a mark of respect to the departed.
AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, earlier in the day paid his final respects to Sudhakar, describing him as an “asset” not only to the Congress Party but to the entire State.
