Sarekoppa Bangarappa | |
|---|---|
| 6th Chief Minister of Karnataka | |
| In office 17 October 1990 – 19 November 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Veerendra Patil |
| Succeeded by | M. Veerappa Moily |
| Member of Parliament forShimoga | |
| In office 5 June 2005 – 12 February 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Himself |
| Succeeded by | B. Y. Raghavendra |
| In office 6 October 1999[1][2] – 10 March 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Ayanur Manjunath |
| Succeeded by | Himself |
| In office 1996–1998 | |
| Preceded by | K. G. Shivappa |
| Succeeded by | Ayanur Manjunath |
| Member of theKarnataka Assembly forSoraba | |
| In office 1967–1996 | |
| Succeeded by | Kumar Bangarappa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1933-10-26)26 October 1933 Kubaturu,Kingdom of Mysore,British India |
| Died | 26 December 2011(2011-12-26) (aged 78) Bengaluru,Karnataka,India |
| Political party | Janata Dal (Secular)(2010–11) |
| Other political affiliations |
|
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5, includingKumar,Madhu |
Sarekoppa Bangarappa (26 October 1933 – 26 December 2011) was an Indian politician who was the 6thChief Minister of Karnataka from 1990 to 1992.
He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Karnataka between 1967 and 1996, before contesting a series of six elections for theLok Sabha from 1996 to 2009, of which he lost two. He founded both theKarnataka Vikas Party and theKarnataka Congress Party during a 44-year career in which his supporters called himSolillada Saradara (a leader who cannot be defeated). As well as these two parties, Bangarappa was at various times a member of theIndian National Congress, theBharatiya Janata Party, theSamajwadi Party andJanata Dal (Secular), and his critics described him as a party-hopper because of this.[4]
Bangarappa was born on 26 October 1933 in Kubatur village, Soraba Taluk,Shimoga district, Karnataka. He married Shakuntala in 1958[5] and the couple had five children, including the actorKumar Bangarappa and film maker Madhu Bangarappa, both of whom have also been politicians.[6] He came from the Deevaru-Idiga community.
He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, a similar degree in Law and a Diploma in Social Science.He stayed in Kubaturu with his joint family he also had a sister named bangaramma.His niece K S Palakshappa and his son Girish took care of the house hold.[5]
Bangarappa began his career in politics as asocialist.[6] He was elected to theKarnataka Legislative Assembly in 1967 from theSoraba constituency of Shimoga district. He became known as a champion of thebackward classes,[7] of which hisDeevaru origins made him a member.[8] Subsequently, he joined theIndian National Congress (INC) and became a minister in the government ofDevaraj Urs,[4] with his first appointment being as Minister of State in the Home department in 1977. This post was followed by that of Cabinet Minister for the Public Works Department in 1978 and then Revenue and Agriculture Minister between 1980 and 1981. In 1979, he served for a year as President of the KarnatakaPradesh Congress Committee.[7][9]
In 1983, he left the INC and became involved with theKarnataka Kranti Ranga (Karnataka Revolutionary Front, also known as the Kannada Kranti Ranga) that had been established a few years earlier by the now-deceased Urs. A brief alliance between the KKR and theJanata Party (JP) resulted in the 1983 election of the first non-INC government in the state.[10][11] Although there had been speculation that he would be appointed Chief Minister in that government, this post went instead toRamakrishna Hegde of the JP. Bangarappa gradually realigned himself with the INC after spending some time supporting the government of Hegde.[10]
Bangarappa was appointed as the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1985 and held that post until 1987.[5] Following the Congress victory in 1989, he became Agriculture Minister in theVeerendra Patil cabinet. He was appointed as Chief Minister of the state in 1990 after Patil was removed on the orders ofRajiv Gandhi, allegedly on health grounds. Subsequently, in 1992, Bangarappa was replaced as Chief Minister byVeerappa Moily.[7] During his tenure, he promoted three popular programmes:Aradhana (to revive and rebuild 36,000 religious shrines),Ashraya (to build houses for the poor) andVishwa (financial aid for rural artisans and cottage industries).[12] His term had been marred by several allegations of his involvement in scandals, such as that involving Classik Computers, although he was cleared of any impropriety in that case. His removal followed his government's failure in handling theCauvery riots.[7][10][13]
Bangarappa left the INC after his removal and formed theKarnataka Congress Party (KCP). His election successes after leaving the chief ministership demonstrated the extent of his personal support with the electorate, which seemed not to be reliant upon the political party to which he belonged, although his popularity declined over time. He came to be seen as a "turncoat politician" who lacked ideology and principle and who moved from one party to another according to whichever he considered to be the most likely to gain power at the time.[7]
Having won theSoraba assembly seat on seven occasions, Bangarappa left it and the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1996. In the same year, he contested theShimoga constituency, a mostly agricultural area in which theIdiga caste dominated, and was elected a member of the Lok Sabha as a KCP candidate.[13][14] He then, went on to form the Karnataka Vikas Party (KVP) and lost in 1998 as a representative of the KVP. However, he was re-elected in 1999 as an INC candidate.[15][16] In 2004, he joined theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)[17] and was re-elected to theLok Sabha as a BJP candidate with a large majority.[18] In 2005 he resigned from the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party,[19] sparking a by-election to the Lok Sabha that he won.[20][21] In 2008, he contested against the BJP Chief Ministerial candidate,Yeddyurappa, in theShikaripura assembly seat[22] and lost heavily.[23] In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he lost to Yeddyurappa's son,B. Y. Raghavendra, of the BJP.[24] In that last election, Bangarappa had represented the INC.[25] Later, in December 2010 and with his political career in decline, Bangarappa joined the Janata Dal (Secular).[26]
Bangarappa suffered fromdiabetes and died on 26 December 2011 in aBangalore hospital due to multiple causes.[27] His funeral was attended by a large number of supporters and was held with state honours at his native village.[28]
Police had to intervene during the funeral ceremonies due to disputes between factions, much of which appeared to revolve around family differences involving Kumar and Madhu Bangarappa.[29] Comments made by Bangarappa at the time of the 2004 assembly elections caused problems for his son, Kumar, who was at that time a minister in the INC government ofS. M. Krishna. Kumar represented his father's old constituency,Soraba, and differences of opinion between the two men had already surfaced, which Bangarappa appeared to delight in publicising but Kumar attempted to play down. Kumar reacted to his father's decision to join the BJP in order to contest the Lok Sabha elections by himself resigning from the INC and his ministerial role. Kumar then discovered that his politically inexperienced younger brother,Madhu Bangarappa, had been selected by the BJP to fight the constituency, apparently at the instigation of his father. Kumar returned to the INC and agreed to stand for election against his brother, determined to make a point to his father and to support Krishna's desire to see Bangarappa humiliated on what was his "home turf". Bangarappa campaigned for Madhu and attempted to mobilise his own support to that end. However, although Bangarappa himself won handsomely from the Shimoga Lok Sabha seat, he was unable to secure the victory of Madhu inSoraba.[8]
| Preceded by | 12thChief Minister of Karnataka 17 October 1990 – 19 November 1992 | Succeeded by |
