Mahesh Kumathalli Age, Caste, Wife, Family, Biography & More

Bio/Wiki
Full name	Mahesh Iranagouda Kumathalli [1]MyNeta
Profession	Politician
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	in centimeters- 173 cm in meters- 1.73 m in feet & inches- 5’ 8”
Eye Colour	Black
Hair Colour	Black
Politics
Political Party	• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (2019 - Present) • Indian National Congress (INC) (2013-2019)
Political Journey	• Contested and lost the Athani assembly seat on INC’s ticket in 2013 • Contested and won the Athani assembly seat on INC’s ticket in 2018 • Contested and won the Athani assembly seat on BJP's ticket in 2019 bye-elctions • Contested and lost the Athani assembly seat on BJP's ticket in 2023
Personal Life
Date of Birth	24 August 1962 (Friday)
Age (as of 2022)	61 Years
Birthplace	Telasang village, Athani taluk, Karnataka, India
Zodiac sign	Virgo
Signature
Nationality	Indian
Hometown	Athani, Belagavi, Karnataka
College/University	KLE Dr MS Sheshgiri College of Engineering & Technology (KLECET), Belgaum, Karnataka
Educational Qualification	BE Civil Engineering (1986) [2]MyNeta
Religion	Hinduism
Caste	Panchamasali Lingayat [3]The Hindu
Address	4362, Vikrampur, Athani – 591304, Belagavi District, Karnataka, India
Controversies	Remarks on Flood-hit People of Athani Taluk In 2021, Kumathalli received widespread criticism for his remarks on the people hit by floods in the villages of Athani Taluk in Karnataka. A video featuring Kumathalli went viral on the internet in which he was seen asking a person hit by floods to give him a “quarter.” In another video, shot at a guest house, Kumathalli expressed that he was occupied by too many issues at that time and that he felt like throwing his cell phone away as he was fed up of calls from flood-affected people. His flippant talk about flood-affected people stirred a controversy following which he had to issue an apology. He tried to justify his behaviour saying that he had just recovered from COVID-19 at that time and did not mean to hurt anyone. [4]The Hindu
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Family
Wife/Spouse	Savita Mahesh (homemaker)
Children	Son- Rajat Kumathalli
Parents	Father- Iranagouda Kumathalli (engineer) Mother- Sumitra Iranagouda Kumathalli
Siblings	Brother- 2 • Prakash Kumathalli (doctor) • Murgesh Kumathalli (businessman) Sister- 2 • Rajeshwari Kumathalli • Kanteshwari Kumathalli (dean of Shri Aurobindo Dental College, Indore, Madhya Pradesh) Note: Mahesh Kumathalli is the eldest child of his parents.
Money Factor
Assets/Properties	Movable Assets • Cash: Rs 1,25,599 • Deposits in Banks: Rs 84,87,039 • Bonds, Debentures and Shares in companies: Rs 7000 • Jewellery: Rs 4,04,750 • Other assets: Rs 5,78,000 Immovable Assets • Agricultural Land: Rs 3,85,50,000 • Non-Agricultural Land: Rs. 8,01,39,785 • Residential Buildings: Rs 79,20,000 Note: The given estimates of moveable and immovable assets are according to the financial years 2022-23. It does not include the assets owned by his wife and dependents. [5]MyNeta
Net Worth (as of 2023)	Rs. 13,61,72,173 Note: It does not include the net worth of his wife and dependents. [6]MyNeta

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mahesh Kumathalli

• Mahesh Kumathalli is an Indian politician who was elected as MLA from Athani on BJP’s ticket in the 2019 Karnataka Legislative Assembly by-elections. Earlier, he was a member of the INC.

• His sources of income include agricultural income from his land in Savadi and Telsang villages in Karnataka.

• In 2005, Mahesh’s younger brother, Prakash Kumathalli, and his wife, Jyothi Kumathalli, adopted their native village Telasang in Athani taluk for a year to develop it.

• Kumathalli was one among the 17 MLAs who shifted their allegiance to the BJP, leading to the collapse of the HD Kumaraswamy-led JDS-Congress government in 2019.
  

  Mahesh Kumathalli campaigning for BJP

• In July 2019, K R Ramesh Kumar, the Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, disqualified Independent MLA R Shankar, and two MLAs from the Congress-JD(S) alliance, Ramesh Jharkiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli on the anti-defection law. The Speaker stated that the MLAs had violated the provisions outlined in Para 2(1) (a) of the tenth Schedule of the Constitution and under 191(a) of the Constitution of India. Consequently, they lost their membership in the 15th State Legislative Assembly and were barred from participating in the assembly until its term ended on 23 May 2023. ^[7]WION Additionally, they were prohibited from participating in any by-elections. In response to their expulsion from the Assembly, Kumathalli and Ramesh Kumar appealed to the Supreme Court. They argued that the Speaker’s decision was hasty and influenced by the Congress party. In November 2019, the Supreme Court upheld the disqualification of the 17 rebel Karnataka MLAs but overturned the Speaker’s ruling that prevented them from contesting elections until 2023. ^[8]India Today

• While Kumathalli and other MLAs who were speculating to join BJP in 2019 were staying in Mumbai at the behest of the BJP, Pramod Hiremani (Youth Congress president in Athani) filed a habeas corpus petition before the Karnataka HC alleging that Kumathalli was missing and possibly in illegal detention. He accused MLA for Gokak Ramesh Jarkiholi of illegally confining Kumathalli. Thereafter, the HC issued notices to the State government and Jarkiholi. Hiremani said that at first, he filed a police complaint in Athani, but he was told that Kumathalli must be visiting Bengaluru, where the assembly session was in progress. However, when Hiremani looked for the MLA in Bengaluru, he failed to locate him and went on to file the petition. Rumours were that Mahesh had said Hiremani that Ramesh was forcing him to resign from his MLA post. ^[9]The Hindu

• When Kumathalli joined BJP and helped the party to bring down the HD Kumaraswamy-led JDS-Congress government in 2019, people from his native village, Telasang, and other villages in Athani taluk displayed their disappointment with the MLA by installing large boards on their outskirts to prohibit his entry. He was banned from campaigning in the area as many accused him of “selling himself” to the BJP for money “like a sheep, hen or buffalo.” The villagers were also irked over the fact that Kumatalli chose to stay in Mumbai while their villages were hit by floods. ^[10]Deccan Chronicle

• In 2023, politics in Athani came full circle when Laxman Savadi and Mahesh Kumathalli who contested for the BJP and Congress respectively in 2018, faced each other again from the parties they opposed in the previous election. In 2018, Kumathalli contested and won the Athani assembly seat as an INC candidate, defeating the BJP candidate Laxman Savadi by 2331 votes. In 2023, Kumathalli contested the Athani assembly on BJP’s ticket, but he lost to Laxman Savadi, who was contesting the elections on INC’s ticket, by 76,122 votes.