Ramakrishna Mahabaleshwar Hegde (29 August 1926 – 12 January 2004) was an Indian politician who served as the tenth Chief Minister of Karnataka for three terms between 1983 and 1988. He was elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1957, 1962, 1967, 1983, 1985 and 1989, and to the Rajya Sabha for two terms, 1978–83 and 1996–2002. He also served as Minister of Commerce and Industry in the Union government (1998–1999). Early life Hegde was born at Siddapura in Uttara Kannada district into a Havyaka Brahmin family, he was son of Mahabaleshwar Hegde and Smt. Saraswati Amma Hegde, who hailed from Sirimane village near sringeri. Hegde completed a part of his studies at the Kashi Vidyapeeth in Varanasi and later obtained a degree in law from Allahabad university. A lawyer by profession, he participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942 and was an active member of the Congress Party. Political career Hegde became the president of the Uttara Kannada District Congress Committee from 1954 to 1957 and rose to become the general secretary of the Mysore Pradesh Congress Committee in 1958, a post he held until 1962. Much of his early administrative experience was built up during the governments of S. Nijalingappa (1956–58 and 1962–68) and Veerendra Patil (1968–71). He was first elected to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1957 and appointed a deputy minister. He was later promoted to cabinet-minister rank, holding diverse portfolios such as Youth Welfare and Sports, Cooperation, Industries, Planning, Panchayat Raj, Development, Information and Publicity, Excise and Finance between 1962 and 1971. During the famous split in the Congress in 1969, Hegde followed in the footsteps of his mentor Nijalingappa and joined the Congress(O), the faction that was opposed to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Council for a few years until 1974. The 1975 Emergency crackdown on opposition leaders saw his arrest along with several other state and national level leaders. When the emergency was lifted, he joined the Janata Party and became the first general secretary of its Karnataka state unit. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha during 1978–83. Chief Minister of Karnataka When the Janata Party came to power by emerging as the single largest party in the 1983 State elections, he emerged as a consensus Brahmin candidate between the powerful Lingayat and Vokkaliga lobbies. In the process, he became the