AMN/ BENGALURU
Former Minister and five-time MLA will be the Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly as he filed his nomination for the Speaker’s post on May 22. The ruling party’s nominee is, generally, unanimously elected as the Speaker.
If elected, Mr Khader will be the first Muslim leader to serve in the post of Speaker of the Assembly in Karnataka.
Born on October 12, 1969, Mr Khader served as Deputy Leader of Opposition when BJP was in charge of the government (2019-23).
He holds a bachelor’s degree in law. He started his political career as a district functionary of the NSUI in the 1990s. He is a five-time MLA.
His first contest was the 2007 by-poll from the erstwhile Ullal constituency (now Mangaluru) after the demise of his father U.T. Fareed who was the sitting MLA. Since then, he has won every election from Mangaluru constituency.
He served as the Health, and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Siddaramaiah-led government during 2013-18. In the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in 2018-19, Mr Khader held the portfolios of Housing and Urban Development.
This comes with a “huge responsibility”, says Khader. “I have to maintain decorum and dignity and bring a good name to the community,” he said. When asked about his plan of action, Khader said, “My responsibility as the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly is to take everyone along with love, affection and faith; with no hatred whatsoever. I will carry out my duties with utmost transparency.”
The nomination of Khader to the Speaker’s post was a surprise development as the names of former ministers HK Patil and TB Jayachandra were doing the rounds. Khader was an aspirant for the cabinet berth.
Though rumours were abuzz that Khader would be given the health minister portfolio, which he had held earlier, he said that it came as a surprise to him to be nominated as the Speaker of the Assembly. “One can become a minister any time, but getting the Speaker’s post is rare. I will take it as a challenge and discharge my duty in the House with faith and love,” he reiterated.
The new Assembly has nine Muslim MLAs and all are from Congress. It had given tickets to 15 Muslim candidates of which nine won, while JD(S)’ 23 candidates drew a blank. Muslims constitute 12.9 per cent of Karnataka’s 6.5 crore population.
In the previous Assembly, there were seven Muslims, all from Congress. In 2013, there were 11, nine from Congress and two from JD(S). The highest representation of Muslims with 16 MLAs was in 1978, when D Devaraj Urs was the chief minister. The lowest with just two was during former chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde’s tenure in 1983.