Thanks PM Modi; awaits protocol from Centre to take charge

Mysore/Mysuru: Former Minister and senior BJP leader C.H. Vijayashankar (Chandrashekar Honnabhandar Vijayashankar) from Mysuru has been appointed as the new Governor of Meghalaya.

Vijayashankar is among nine new Governors appointed to various States by the President of India, Draupadi Murmu, as announced by Rashtrapati Bhavan on July 27.

The appointment of the 67-year-old Vijayashankar to the gubernatorial post came as a surprise to many, including those who were expecting key positions within the party.

Vijayashankar, a 2-time MP from Mysore Lok Sabha Constituency (later Mysuru-Kodagu Constituency), has had a varied political career, experiencing many ups and  downs.

Soft-spoken leader

A soft-spoken Kuruba leader hailing from Makanur in Ranebennur, Haveri district, Vijayashankar is a B.Sc graduate. He moved to his sister’s house in Hunsur, Mysuru district, in the early 90s and joined his brother-in-law’s cement business.

He initially entered politics with the Congress party but later joined the BJP, where he rose to prominence. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the Hunsur Constituency in the 1994 elections, becoming the first BJP MLA from the area.

He also helped the party make inroads into the Mysore Parliamentary seat, a traditional Congress stronghold, in the 1998 and 2004 Lok Sabha elections. However, he lost the 1999 LS polls to the then-scion of the erstwhile Mysore royal family Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, who is no more.

Against HDD in Hassan

In a changed political scenario, the BJP decided to field journalist Prathap Simha from Mysuru-Kodagu seat for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

As a result, Vijayashankar was moved to the Hassan LS seat, where he contested against JD(S) Supremo and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda       (HDD) but lost.

Upset with the BJP’s decision to overlook his loyalty, Vijayashankar left the party in 2017 and rejoined Congress. He was the Congress-JD(S) coalition candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Mysuru on a Congress ticket but failed to reclaim the seat from Prathap Simha, who was re-elected by a margin of over 1.38 lakh votes.

A few months after the elections, in November 2019, Vijayashankar returned to the BJP, citing being sidelined in the Congress. He was given a BJP ticket in the 2023 Assembly elections from the Periyapatna Constituency but did not make a significant impact, finishing third in the polls.

Vijayashankar, who served as the Forest and Small Scale Industries Minister in Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s Cabinet from September 2010 to August 2011, was also a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council from 2010 to 2016.

Son-in-law of Kodagu

A resident of Vijayanagar 2nd Stage in Mysuru city, Vijayashankar is married to Babitha, the daughter of Devaraju and Gayatri, a couple from Devarapura village, Ponnampet taluk, Kodagu district. Vijayashankar and Babitha have a son, Chethan Kumar, and two daughters, Bhavani and Kanaka.