K. Chengalaraya Reddy

Kyasamballi Chengalaraya Reddy
Kyasamballi Chengalaraya Reddy
3rd Governor of Madhya Pradesh
	In office; 10 February 1966 – 7 March 1971
Chief Minister	Dwarka Prasad Mishra; Govind Narayan Singh; Nareshchandra Singh; Shyama Charan Shukla
Preceded by	P. V. Dixit (acting)
Succeeded by	Satya Narayan Sinha
	In office; 11 February 1965 – 2 February 1966
Chief Minister	Dwarka Prasad Mishra
Preceded by	Hari Vinayak Pataskar
Succeeded by	P. V. Dixit (acting)
Minister of Commerce and Industry
	In office; 5 April 1961 – 19 July 1963
Prime Minister	Jawaharlal Nehru
Preceded by	Lal Bahadur Shastri
Succeeded by	Manubhai Shah
1st Chief Minister of Mysore State
	In office; 26 January 1950 – 30 March 1952
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Kengal Hanumanthaiah
1st Prime Minister of Mysore State
	In office; 25 October 1947 – 26 January 1950
Preceded by	Office Established
Succeeded by	Himself as Chief Minister
Personal details
Born	4 May 1902; Kyasamballi, Kolar District, Kingdom of Mysore, Mysore Residency, British India; (Now in Kyasamballi, Kolar District, Karnataka, India)
Died	27 February 1976 (aged 73)
Political party	Indian National Congress

Kyasamballi Chengaluraya Reddy (4 May 1902 – 27 February 1976) was the first Chief Minister of Mysore State (Now Karnataka). Reddy later served as the governor of Madhya Pradesh.

Early life

K.C. Reddy was born on 4 May 1902 into a Vokkaliga^[1]^[2]^[3] family in Kyasamballi village, Kolar district. He was a revolutionary from childhood and participated in many protests against British rule in India.^[4]^[5]

Career

After graduating in law, Reddy along with other political activists, founded the Praja Paksha (Peoples' Party) in 1930.^[6] The aim of this party was to achieve responsible government in the Princely state of Mysore. The party gained support in rural areas as it largely highlighted the issues of farmers. The Praja Paksha and Praja Mitra Mandali joined to form the Praja Samyukta Paksha (Mysore People's Federation) in 1934. Reddy served as its president from 1935 to 1937.^[7] Later, the federation merged with the Indian National Congress and participated in the Indian independence movement.^[8] Reddy served as the president of Mysore Congress twice, in 1937–38 and 1946–47. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India.

After independence of India in 1947, he was at the forefront of the Mysore Chalo movement seeking responsible state government in Mysore State and went on to become the first Chief Minister of the state.^[9]^[10] He served in this position from 1947 to 1952.

Reddy was elected as a member of the Mysore Legislative Assembly in 1952 representing Bangarapet.Subsequently, he served as a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1952 to 1957 and as a member of the Lok Sabha, representing Kolar from 1957 to 1962. During this period, he also served as Union Minister for Housing and Supplies (1957–61) and as Union Minister for Commerce and Industries (1961–62). Later, he also served as Governor of Madhya Pradesh from 1965 to 1971.^[11]

Reddy's birth centenary was commemorated in 2002 when his contribution towards the development of Karnataka was hailed.^[12]