Will Speaker Khader miss being a minister?

Mangaluru: He is the man of the common people. UT Khader, loves to be amidst people, no matter if he is playing cricket with the local boys of his constituency (Ullal), or attending ritualistic theatre events in Dakshina Kannada, engaging in Beach cleaning or even riding motorcycles and driving SUVs on the motor racing events. He will be now decorating the ceremonial post of the speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. People do not know if this post is apt for him, but find it an honour bestowed on him by his party. They are also not sure if he is too young to be away from the government’s responsibilities.

U T Abdul Khader Fareed has entered the Karnataka assembly for the fourth time and is known for his simplicity. He won the Sadan Veer and Shining India Award for his best performance in the Legislative Assembly from 2008 to 2013.

He served as Health Minister in the Siddaramaiah government in 2013 till 2016. During this period, he implemented revolutionary projects like Gutka Ban, Bike Ambulance, 108, Arogyasree, Dant Bhagya, Dialysis Unit in Government Taluk Hospitals, Harsha Santhvan Yojana etc. in the state and also won the Best Health Minister Award given by the Central Government.

After assuming power as the Food Minister from 2016 to 2018, he created history by cutting the 10 to 13 documents that the poor had to submit for the ration card and applying only through Aadhaar card and delivering the ration card to the doorstep. Lakhs of people all along the state who were deprived of BPL card were helped to get ration card by reducing the income limit for getting BPL card.

In the coalition government of 2018, he took office as the Minister of Urban Development and Housing and succeeded in introducing many projects including Mangalore Smart City. He has served as the Chairman of Karnataka Housing Corporation, Chairman of Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Chairman of Rajiv Gandhi Housing Board and Chairman of Karnataka Slum Board.

In 2021, he was elected as the deputy leader of each party in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and served till 2023. The groups inimical to Khader and groups friendly with Khader in the party are putting two different narratives out - The group that is friendly to him in the party-state that in Khader the party has seen a truly secular and statesman-like quality which Khader has developed over the years practising clean and corruption-free politics. The group inimical to him stated that the party wanted to curtail his growth which was intimidating other party leaders, It could be recalled that Khader’s name had been doing rounds for a Deputy Chief Minister’s post when the party leadership was trying to fix at least 3 Deputy Chief Ministers following a resounding victory in the state assembly elections 2023.