B. K. Hariprasad

B.K.​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Hariprasad came into this world in Bangalore on 29 July 1954. His parents were Kempaiah A. and Gunavathi K. He acquired his B.Com degree from MES College, Bangalore University.

His initial political experience was through student activism and youth politics that he was involved in during the early years of his life. Later, he became more deeply involved with the Congress party. Your organisation, one of the few in the country, greeted him with a Standing Ovation. You devoted yourself tirelessly, and Tiruppur was flooded with the blessings of the backward classes in your grassroots political work. The only thing that they could say against you was that you were very much the man of the masses you represented.

Hariprasad made his first breakthrough in the national scene in 1990 when he was elected as a Member of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. He has been re-elected several times, and he has served on the Rajya Sabha (1990–1996, 2004–2010, 2013–2020) for a total of 21 years at the national level, representing his state.

In 2020, he left the national political arena and stepped into the state-level field of politics with an election to the Karnataka Legislative Council. The Leader of the Opposition in the council was from January 2022 to May 2023, when he took up that role and gave the state not only his leadership but also critical guidance during the politically turbulent period.

At a time when the party was arguably in its most dire straits, the national leadership in February 2025 appeared to see him as the best hope for recovery in Haryana when it gave him the monumental task of coordinating the Congress operations in the state.

Hariprasad has been very vocal in supporting OBC and Dalit rights, and whenever he saw his party throwing cold water on the backwards-class representation, he would lash out at his own party and governments; hence, he has been regarded as a social watchdog, protector of the less privileged, and advocate for inclusive ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌politics.