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{{Short description|Indian politician (born 1949)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Ramesh Kumar at Bengaluru (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| office =
| term_start =
| term_end =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| office1 = 9th [[List of Speakers of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly|Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly]]
| term_start1 = 25 May 2018
| term_end1 = 29 July 2019
| predecessor1 = [[K. B. Koliwad]]
| successor1 = [[Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri]]
| term_start2 = 27 December 1994
| term_end2 = 24 October 1999
| predecessor2 = V. S. Koujalagi
| successor2 = [[M. V. Venkatappa]]
| office3 = [[First Siddaramaiah ministry|Minister of Health and Family Welfare of Karnataka]]
| term_start3 = 13 September 2016
| term_end3 = 23 May 2018
| predecessor3 = [[U. T. Khader]]
| successor3 = Shivanand Patil
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1949|11|22|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Addagal (Srinivaspur)|Addagal]], [[Srinivaspur]], [[Kolar district|Kolar]], [[Mysore State]], India
| occupation = Politician
| children =
| party = [[Indian National Congress]]
| otherparty = [[All India Progressive Janata Dal]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Ramesh Kumar joins Cong despite opposition |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb272004/s2.asp |access-date=3 May 2024 |work=Deccan Herald |date=27 February 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040507060032/http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb272004/s2.asp |archive-date=7 May 2004}}</ref>
| education = [[Bachelor of Science]]
| profession = Agriculturist
| website =
}}
'''Kanadam Ramaiah Ramesh Kumar''' (born 22 November 1949) is an Indian politician who was the 9th and 16th speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly and member of the [[Indian National Congress]] from the state of [[Karnataka]].

He is a six-term member of the [[Karnataka Legislative Assembly]] from [[Srinivasapur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Srinivaspur]] assembly constituency in Kolar district. He met [[Devaraj Urs]] during student days and was encouraged to enter politics. In 1994, he became Speaker of the assembly for his first experience with that post. In June 2016, he was inducted into the [[First Siddaramaiah ministry|Siddaramaiah-led government]] of Karnataka as a cabinet minister. He held the Health and Family Welfare Ministry portfolio in the [[Government of Karnataka]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kla.kar.nic.in/assembly/ministry.htm |title=Health and Family Welfare Department |publisher=kla.kar.nic.in}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/kagodu-gets-revenue-ramesh-kumar-given-health/article8757793.ece |title=Kagodu gets Revenue, Ramesh Kumar given Health |publisher=thehindu.com|newspaper=The Hindu |date=2016-06-22 |last1=Prabhu |first1=Nagesh }}</ref> He was elected unopposed as the speaker of [[15th Karnataka Legislative Assembly]] in 2018 after [[JD(S)]] and Congress unity.

== Political life ==
Ramesh Kumar is from the [[Indian National Congress|INC]] and represents [[Srinivasapur Assembly constituency|Srinivaspur]] constituency of [[Kolar district]], [[Karnataka]]. Ramesh Kumar started his political career in the seventies with the INC. He later joined the [[Janata Party|JP]] in the mid-1980s and joined the [[Janata Dal]] in the 1990s. In the early 2000s he came back into the INC. He acted in Mukta Mukta.

== Electoral history ==
*Ramesh Kumar won his first [[Karnataka Legislative Assembly]] election in [[1978 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|1978]] by beating R. G. Narayanareddy by over 18,000 votes. Ramesh Kumar fought on an [[Indian National Congress|INC]] ticket. Devaraj Urs had encouraged him to enter politics.
*In the following Karnataka Legislative Assembly election of [[1983 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|1983]] he contested as an independent, and lost the election to G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy of Congress by a narrow margin of only about 700 votes.
*In the [[1985 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|1985]] election Ramesh Kumar stood on a [[Janata Party|JP]] ticket and won the seat by about 7,000 votes beating G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy of the INC.
*In the [[1989 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|1989]] election Ramesh Kumar lost the seat to G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy of the INC by about 8,000 votes.
*In the following [[1994 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|1994]] election Ramesh Kumar stood on a [[Janata Dal|JD]] ticket and won the seat by about 4,000 votes defeating G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy of the INC. He was elected Speaker of the assembly.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.deccanherald.com/state/karnataka-politics/ramesh-kumar-retraces-career-as-he-quits-as-speaker-750506.html | title=Ramesh Kumar retraces career as he quits as Speaker | date=29 July 2019 }}</ref>
*In the [[1999 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|1999]] election Ramesh Kumar stood as an independent candidate and lost the assembly seat to G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy of the INC by about 1,000 votes.
*In the [[2004 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|2004]] election Ramesh Kumar joined the INC and fought on their ticket winning by over 8,000 votes against G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy who had by then joined the [[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]].
*The [[2008 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|2008]] election Ramesh Kumar fought on an INC ticket and lost his assembly seat by about 3,500 votes to G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy who was on a [[Janata Dal (Secular)|JD(S)]] ticket.
*Ramesh Kumar is a sitting member of the [[Karnataka Legislative Assembly]] as he won the [[2013 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|2013 assembly election]] on an INC ticket beating G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy of the JD(S) by 3,000 votes.
*In [[2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election|2018 assembly election]] he again won successively on an INC beating G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy of JD(S) by 10,373 votes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.elections.in/karnataka/assembly-constituencies/srinivaspur.html |title=Sitting and previous MLAs from Srinivaspur Assembly Constituency |publisher=elections.in}}</ref> This was the ninth successive time that Ramesh Kumar and G. K. Venkata Shiva Reddy had contested this seat against each other and the only time Kumar had been elected consecutively. He was elected Speaker for the second time in 2018. After the JD-S and Congress coalition government collapsed, he resigned from his post in 2019.

== Membership of Legislature ==
{| class = "wikitable"
|-
! SI No.
! Year
! Constituency
! Tenure
! Party
|-
|1.
|1978
|[[Srinivasapur Assembly constituency|Srinivaspur]]
|1978–1983
|bgcolor=#00BFFF|[[Indian National Congress]]
|-
|2.
|1985
|[[Srinivasapur Assembly constituency|Srinivaspur]]
|1985–1989
|bgcolor=#1E90FF|[[Janata Party]]
|-
|3.
|1994
|[[Srinivasapur Assembly constituency|Srinivaspur]]
|1994–1999
|bgcolor=#138808|[[Janata Dal]]
|-
|4.
|2004
|[[Srinivasapur Assembly constituency|Srinivaspur]]
|2004–2008
|bgcolor=#00BFFF|[[Indian National Congress]]
|-
|5.
|2013
|[[Srinivasapur Assembly constituency|Srinivaspur]]
|2013–2018
|bgcolor=#00BFFF|[[Indian National Congress]]
|-
|6.
|2018
|[[Srinivasapur Assembly constituency|Srinivaspur]]
|2018–2023
|bgcolor=#00BFFF|[[Indian National Congress]]
|-
|}

== Positions held in Government of Karnataka ==
{| class ="wikitable"
|-
! SI No.
! Post
! Tenure
|-
|1.
|[[List of Speakers of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly|Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly]].
|1994–1999
|-
|2.
|[[First Siddaramaiah ministry|Minister of Health and Family Welfare]].
|2016–2018
|-
|3.
|[[List of Speakers of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly|Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly]].
|2018–2019
|-
|}

==Ministry==
Besides holding the Health and Family Welfare Ministry portfolio Ramesh Kumar in his forty-year political career has held many posts in the [[Karnataka Legislative Assembly]] and the [[Government of Karnataka]]. Ramesh Kumar was the Speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from 27 December 1994 to 24 October 1999.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/kumaraswamy-criticises-former-speaker-ramesh-kumar/article4634057.ece |title=Kumaraswamy criticises former Speaker Ramesh Kumar |publisher=thehindu.com|newspaper=The Hindu |date=2013-04-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/listshow/52830155.cms |title=Karnataka cabinet reshuffle: Know your new ministers|date=20 June 2016|newspaper=The Times of India|access-date=11 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/ramesh-kumar-may-contest-from-bangalore-south/article323008.ece |title=Ramesh Kumar may contest from Bangalore South |publisher=thehindu.com|newspaper=The Hindu |date=2009-03-03 }}</ref>

== Controversy ==
In 2019, Ramesh Kumar made a statement in the Assembly where he compared himself with a rape survivor having to undergo repeated questioning during the discussion on the controversial audio clips that allegedly mentioned his name for taking Rs. 5 Billion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Karnataka-assembly-speaker-Ramesh-Kumar-compares-himself-with-a-rape-survivor/articleshow/67964182.cms|title=Karnataka assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar compares himself with a rape survivor|date=February 12, 2019|first=Sandeep|last=Moudgal|website=The Times of India|language=en|access-date=2020-02-04}}</ref> After facing backlash from various women legislators, activists and the media, he apologized to the MLAs later, clarifying it as a media hype.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/speakers-remark-on-rape-condemned/article26262572.ece|title=Speaker's remark on rape condemned|date=2019-02-14|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-02-04|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/i-m-sorry-media-hyped-it-karnataka-assembly-speaker-on-his-rape-remark-1455596-2019-02-14|title=I'm sorry, media hyped it: Karnataka assembly speaker on his rape remark|date=February 14, 2019|first=Nolan|last=Pinto|website=India Today|language=en|access-date=2020-02-04}}</ref>

In 2021, Ramesh Kumar made a statement in the Karnataka assembly, "When rape is inevitable, lie down and enjoy." Criticism of Kumar's comments came from his own party members.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://thewire.in/politics/when-rape-is-inevitable-lie-down-and-enjoy-it-karnataka-congress-mla-says-in-assembly|title=Ramesh kumar says enjoy rape|date=2021-12-16|website=The wire|language=en-IN}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://kla.kar.nic.in/assembly/member/members.htm Karnataka Legislative Assembly]
{{Indian National Congress|state=Karnataka}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumar, K. R. Ramesh}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka]]
[[Category:Speakers of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Janata Party politicians]]
[[Category:Janata Dal politicians]]
[[Category:Karnataka MLAs 1978–1983]]
[[Category:Karnataka MLAs 1985–1989]]
[[Category:Karnataka MLAs 1994–1999]]
[[Category:Karnataka MLAs 2004–2007]]
[[Category:Karnataka MLAs 2013–2018]]
[[Category:Karnataka MLAs 2018–2023]]

K. R. Ramesh Kumar - Revision history

Masterstrock at 00:04, 27 February 2026