Dr Vedavyasa Srinivas Acharya, paterfamilias of the BJP in Karnataka, died of a heart attack, minutes before his address to government college teachers here on Tuesday, throwing the state party unit into turmoil and an inconsolably sobbing Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda declaring it would be difficult for him to present his maiden budget in view of the void caused by the demise of this gentleman politician.
The 72-year-old higher education minister, who arrived at the Legislative Council on a wheelchair recently in view of his failing health, held the state unit together often dousing internal squabbles from the day the party captured power south of the Vindhyas in May 2008.
Approached by senior leaders to take over the mantle from a beleaguered B.S. Yeddyurappa, he chose to turn them down and defend the leader.
He battled criticism of the government over issues like church attacks and moral policing in coastal areas. His early initiative to stop human transportation of night soil during his reign as president of Udupi town municipality made him something of a legend.
Dr Acharya’s body, rushed to his official residence on Race Course Road was placed in the open courtyard till 4.00 pm for party workers to pay homage, and later flown to Udupi for cremation on Tuesday night in the presence of party patriarch L.K. Advani, MP Ananth Kumar, Mr Sadananda Gowda and several ministers.
Acharya of clean politics
Acharya even refused to build his own home in Bengaluru. For him, Reputation was all.
A life of dignity
* ‘Final Darshan at Rajatadri between 5 pm and 7 pm, 14/02/2012,’ reads the last post (made at 2.21 pm) on Dr V.S. Acharya’s blog.
* A blogger since 2007, he constantly kept pace with current affairs and shared his views on them on his page, not hesitating to pull up the media when he thought it neccessary.
* The blog has rare black and white photographs of him as a student of Kadiyali school, in the municipal council in 1968, druring the Akki gate satyagraha, and others showing him in the company of Atal Behari Vajpayee, Jayaprakash Narayan, Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai and Ashok Singhal.
* While convent (English) education was the rage, Dr Acharya insisted on all his five children studying in the Kannada medium till they did their SSLC.
* Today, two of his sons are doctors at the Kasturba Medical College, and two others are software
engineers in the US.
* He shared a sweet bond (literally) with former minister Ramachandra Gowda and chairman of the Legislative Council, D.H. Shankarmurthy. He would quietly pass on some chocolates to them, that he carried in his pocket, to help them sail through long debates that went past lunch hour in the House
at times.
* At 72, Dr Acharya continued to discharge his duties as a minister and leader of the House in the Legislative Council. His last public speech was at ‘Export Vision 2020’ – a conclave of state exporters hosted by the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO) at the TMA Pai Hall in Mangalore on Monday.
* As the guest of honour, he said, “Mangalore can be the economic capital of the state owing to its
economic and infrastructure development over the last three years under the BJP government.”
Profile
1939: Born in Udupi to Vidwan Vedantha Shiromani Katte Srinivasa Acharya and Smt Krishnaveni Amma
1959: Studied medicine at Kasturba Medical College Manipal and won Best Alumnus award (twice)
1968: Youngest municipal president of Udupi (28 years) during which Udupi became first local body in the country to abolish manual carrying of night soil.
1974 -1977: District president of Bharathiya Jana Sangh
1975 – 1977: Imprisoned under ‘MISA’ for 19 months for fighting for social justice during Emergency
1977-1980: District president, Janatha Party
1980 –1983: District president, BJP
1984: State vice-president of BJP and member, National Executive Committee
1983: Elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly from Udupi Constituency.
1996: Elected to the Legislative Council
2002: Re-elected to the legislative council of Karnataka
2006: Minister for Medical Education & Animal husbandry
2007: Sworn in as Minister on 12th November 2007
2008: President, Manifesto Committee, BJP; Sworn in as the Home Minister, Government of Karnataka on 30th May 2008
2010: Additional charges of Muzrai Dept, Medical Education
2010: (September): Minister for Higher Education, Statistics, Planning
2010: (November): Additional charge of Muzrai Dept
2010: (December) to 2011 (August): Additional charge of Information Technology & BioTechnology
2011: (8th August 2011): Minister for Higher Education, Statistics, Planning, Muzrai Dept, Information Technology & BioTechnology
Survived by
Wife: Smt Shantha V Acharya (BSc) Social worker and The State Commissioner, Guides.
Children: Four sons and a daughter Dr Kiran K.V. Acharya, Mr Ganesha Prasad, Mr Rajesh Prasad, Mrs Bharathi M Hebbar
Contribution to higher education
He worked toward transparency in the functioning of the department tainted with allegations of corruption and nepotism.
He had a no-nonsense approach towards the problems faced by universities in the state.
He made it sure that there were enough funds for institutes of higher education.
