Two-time MLA Shrishailappa Bidarur died after suffering a massive heart attack at a Congress meeting here Friday. He was 60.
Bidarur had applied for a Congress ticket and was at a private resort where the party had convened a meeting with aspirants willing to contest the upcoming Assembly election. He collapsed when the meeting was about to start.
Apparently, Bidarur felt unwell on Thursday, followed by uneasiness on Friday morning.
"When we entered the (meeting) room, he suffered a massive heart attack. Some of our doctor MLAs tried to administer treatment on the spot. We rushed him to the hospital. Our leaders tried much to save him. But, he breathed his last," Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar said.
Bidarur became the Ron MLA in 1994 as a Janata Dal candidate. In 2008, Bidarur was the BJP candidate when he defeated the Congress' HK Patil in Gadag. He lost against Patil in the 2013 election as the BJP candidate. When the BJP did not give him the 2018 Assembly ticket, Bidarur joined the Congress in April 2019.
The Congress had scheduled a day-long meeting with ticket applicants. Following Bidarur's demise, Shivakumar said the meeting had been put off till Sunday. "On Sunday, the meeting will be held on Zoom," he said.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah condoled Bidarur's demise.