Bengaluru, Aug 22: He brings alive drab political speeches in public with wit, sarcasm as well as Basavanna's vachanas and Sanskrit shlokas.
The unopposed election of Congress candidate C M Ibrahim to the Karnataka legislative council (formal announcement of his election will be on August 24) from the assembly set at rest speculation of his quitting the party as the JD(S) and BJP were reportedly trying to woo him.
"When the bride is good-looking, there are many suitors for her,'' he said, after his name was cleared by the Congress high command for the council seat.
After he filed his nomination papers, he was asked whether the 10-month tenure as MLC would be enough to implement his plans. Ibrahim quipped: "Many things happen in nine months.''
The vacancy to the council was caused following the death of BJP MLC Vimala Gowda, whose tenure was to end in June 2018.
Ibrahim, a confidant of chief minister Siddaramaiah, finished his schooling and has been with the Congress and undivided Janata Parivaar since 1978. He became an MLA in 1978 on a Janata Party ticket, joined the Congress in 1980 and quit but only to rejoin in 2008.
His proximity to former PM H D Deve Gowda peaked in 1996, when he became the second in command in the latter's cabinet as minister for civil aviation.
His induction into the Union cabinet was Gowda's thanksgiving as Ibrahim was one of the contributors of the Janata Parivaar victory in the assembly elections with Gowda becoming the CM in 1994.
A few years later, Ibrahim fell out with Gowda and in 2008 rejoined the Congress. Ibrahim's first mentor was former CM S Nijalingappa, who is said to have spotted him at an election meeting as a 12-year-old boy giving election speeches for his father's friend contesting on a Congress ticket from Bhadravati in 1967.
In 1969, when the Congress split, Nijalingappa entrusted Ibrahim to former chief minister Veerendra Patil with whom he stayed till his death.
Apart from his oratory, Ibrahim is also remembered for the Rolex watch controversy. Acording to Ibrahim, he visited Dubai as food and civil supplies minister in Gundu Rao's cabinet.
He was presented a steel Rolex watch which then cost Rs 1,000. Although it was declared at customs, Ibrahim said former MLC A K Subbaiah had made an issue of it.
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