Who is BK Hariprasad who replaces DK Shivakumar as Karnataka Congress chief?

The Congress party has appointed senior party leader BK Hariprasad as the new president of its Karnataka unit to succeed DK Shivakumar.

The appointment came hours after Shivakumar took oath as the new chief minister along with 13 other ministers. Shivakumar replaces Siddaramaiah who had resigned from the chief minister's position a few days ago in accordance with the directives from the party high command.

"Congress president has appointed BK Hariprasad as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect," AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said in a statement.

An OBC leader from the Billava community, Hariprasad has been in-charge of party affairs in several states. He is currently in-charge for Haryana, a responsibility he will relinquish soon.

Hariprasad has also been an MLC in Karnataka. He was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Council in 2020. Hariprasad has also nominated for second term as the party candidate for the upcoming election of the state legislative council.

Hariprasad is also a permanent invitee to the CWC and is known to be close to Nehru- Gandhi family.

Last October, Hariprasad courted controversy when he dubbed RSS as ‘Indian Taliban’. He, along with Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, had consistently attacked RSS over the last few months calling for the organisation’s registration and its source of income to be revealed to the public.

“I have resigned as the Congress president. Hariprasad has been appointed as the new president. He is a senior and honest worker of the party. He has been a Rajya Sabha member and an MLC...under his leadership, we will have to work to build and strengthen the party,” CM Shivakumar said addressing party leaders and office bearers on Wednesday.

Siddaramaiah in a post on 'X' said, "There is confidence that your ideological commitment, long political experience, dedication to the party, and life of struggle will lead the state Congress party in a new direction."

(With PTI inputs)