Who is Ramesh Kumar – key to fate of Congress-JDS government in Karnataka?

All eyes are now on Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar who holds the key to the future of the Congress-JDS coalition government, which is on the verge of collapse. The government, led by Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, has plunged into a crisis ever since 14 MLAs of the alliance submitted their resignations to the Speaker on Saturday. In the meantime, Kumar’s decision to accept or reject the resignations of the disgruntled Karnataka legislators will apparently decide the future of the 13-month-old wobbly government.

Amid this heightened political tensions, Kumar on Tuesday said every step he takes will become history and he cannot afford to make any mistakes. As the ruling Congress-JDS coalition eagerly awaits Kumar's decision, here is all you need to know about the Karnataka politician.

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- K Ramayya Ramesh Kumar is an Indian politician and Congress leader from the state of Karnataka. Kumar, a five-term member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, stepped into his political career in 70s with the Indian National Congress.

- Later, he joined the Janata Party in the mid-1980s, and joined the Janata Dal in the 1990s. In the early 2000s he came back into the Indian National Congress.

- In 1978, Kumar beat RG Narayanareddy by over 18000 votes to win his first Legislative Assembly Election from the Srinivaspur Assembly seat in Karnataka.

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- So far, Kumar has fought a total of 10 Assembly elections from the state. In the 2018 Assembly elections, Kumar contested the Srinivaspur seat on a Congress ticket and won successively by beating GK Venkata Shiva Reddy of Janata Dal by 10373 votes.

- In June 2016, Kumar was inducted into the Siddaramaiah led Karnataka government as the Health and Family Welfare Minister. He was elected unopposed as the speaker of 15th Assembly of Karnataka after JDS and Congress forged an alliance to form the government in the state.