Mukhyamantri Chandru

Indian politician

Honnasandra Narasimhaiah Chandrashekar (born 28 August 1953), known popularly as Mukhyamantri Chandru, is an Indian actor and politician. As an actor, he is known for his work in Kannada theatre and cinema. The sobriquet Mukhyamantri (Chief Minister) stuck to his name after the play of the same name that sees him portray the title role became widely popular. Having portrayed mostly comic and negative roles throughout his career, Chandru is a character actor, and has acted in over 500 films since making his debut in 1983. Chandru joined the Janata Party in 1985 and won the year's assembly elections from Gauribidanur. Switching to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), he became a member of the legislative council in 1998 and 2004. He served as the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority till 2013 before quitting the party to join the Indian National Congress (INC) in 2014. Eight years later, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party.

Chandru was born on 28 August 1953 into a family of farmers of Narasimhaiah and Thimmamma in Honnasandra, a village in the taluk of Nelamangala of Bangalore Rural district, in the Indian State of Mysore (now called Karnataka). The role went to him after Lohithaswa, the actor who was to play the role, fell ill. Titled Mukhyamantri, Chief Minister in Kannada, the play is an adaptation of a 1976 book of the same name written by Ranjit Kapoor. In the play, the Chief Minister's role is shortened to KD Kaushal or KeDi, a word used to refer to a delinquent. Chandru's career in films began in 1983 when he was cast by producer N. Veeraswamy to play a supporting role in Chakravyuha. Speaking about an incident to The Times of India of his stint as the Member of the Legislative Assembly, he said that the officers who assisted him when he "decided to get tough with the sand mining mafia controlled by a liquor baron in his constituency" were transferred, and when he complained to Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, he was to told to "get practical". The position was the same rank of a cabinet minister, and Chandru was retained by the subsequent governments, despite his resignation from BJP in 2013. He cited "dedicat[ing himself] for the cause of the State and Kannada language" as the reason for the quitting. In March 2014, he joined the Indian National Congress (INC). In his tenure as the chairperson of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), Chandru advocated very strongly for the protection and promotion of the Kannada language. The beginning of his tenure saw a significant development in that, on 31 October 2008, Kannada was given the status of a classical language. Recommendations made by him in view of promoting the language in Karnataka were met with both praise and criticism. In December, he called for a compulsory display of vehicle registration plates of all vehicles of the State government in Kannada starting January 2009. In 2011, under Chandru's chairpersonship, the KDA recommended to the Karnataka government to make it mandatory for immigrants in the State to clear the Class VII level tests of the language. Chandru felt that if "outsiders live off the resources here, they should also learn to understand the culture, history and language of the land". Other recommendations included the use of Kannada software in cellphones, and to take over all ancient palm leaf manuscripts in private possession and declare them state property. Chandru was instrumental in the Kempegowda International Airport authorities agreeing to display signboards and nameplates in Kannada, in 2012. Chandru pitched for making Kannada a compulsory subject from Classes I to V. In an interview with The Times of India in 2009, he had declared that his goal was to successfully implement Kannada as an administrative language in all government offices, and push for a legislation that mandates compulsory learning of Kannada from Classes I to IV. In June 2022, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party. He was appointed the Karnataka unit president of the party in July 2023.

In the first decade of the 21st century, Chandru is involved in various Kannada language activities concerning to the public, government and the mass media, has been instrumental in setting up bodies for the classical language's enhancement & encouragement.