An eight-time MLA and six-time minister, Umesh Katti carried a distinct persona of a pan-chewing political middleweight who chose to be away from the limelight, but courted controversy often.
Succeeding his father Vishwanath Katti as MLA from the Hukkeri constituency at a tender age of 25, his desire to become chief minister would have probably come true had he stuck to one party throughout his political career.
One among those who shifted loyalties to the BJP in the first Operation Lotus in 2008, the sugar baron represented his constituency from three political parties since his maiden election in 1985. Incidentally, he is the youngest lawmaker to be elected to the Legislative Assembly ever in the history of Karnataka.
Katti, an influential member of the cooperative sector, was minister under five chief ministers. He was among the young faces in the Janata Dal government under J H Patel, where he was sugar and prisons minister. Subsequently, he served as agriculture minister under B S Yediyurappa, D V Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar in the first BJP government in Karnataka (2008-13).
After the BJP came to power in Karnataka in 2019, he was left out of the Cabinet by Yediyurappa prompting him to publicly express his desire to become chief minister. In January 2021, he was inducted to Yediyurappa’s Cabinet, a stint which he continued under Basavaraj Bommai. Earlier this year, he had stirred up a controversy by saying that north Karnataka would become a separate state based on population soon after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. That was not the first time he demanded statehood for north Karnataka.
Katti fought nine elections and lost only once in the 2004 Assembly election against BJP’s Shashikant Naik. In 2008, he shifted to BJP following which he was also instrumental in the election of his brother Ramesh Katti as the Chikkodi MP.
The Kattis are known to run their own fiefdom in Belagavi, a large political district with 18 Assembly segments. With the death of Umesh Katti, the BJP has lost another big face in the district after Suresh Angadi, who died in September 2020. The BJP now has to rely on the likes of Shashikala Jolle, Laxman Savadi and Prabhakar Kore among others. There is also Ramesh Jarkiholi, but he has been keeping a low profile ever since he got embroiled in a sex scandal last year.
Katti had faced cardiac problems, having suffered heart attacks twice in the past - in 1997 first and then in 2014.
Katti laid to rest
at his native village
Katti was laid to rest at his farmhouse on the outskirts of his native Bellad Bagewadi on late Wednesday evening with full state honours. The last rites were carried out as per Veerashaiva-Lingayat traditions. CM Basavaraj Bommai, his Cabinet colleagues and many top leaders, including former CM B S Yediyurappa and opposition leader Siddaramaiah were present.
Earlier in the day, thousands paid their last respects to the departed leader.