Bangarappa's daughter seeks to inherit his legacy

This is going to be the first time in 18 years when former chief minister S Bangarappa will not be in the fray. The veteran leader had been part of all six Lok Sabha elections from the constituency since 1996 and had represented Shimoga four times in Parliament.

He had represented Sorab Assembly segment, which is part of the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, seven consecutive times since 1967, till 1996. He made way for his son Kumar Bangarappa to represent Sorab in the Assembly. 

But Bangarappa continues to be an integral part of the elections, with his daughter Geetha, wife of actor Shivrajkumar, in the fray as the JD(S) candidate. 

Former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, who is the BJP candidate this time, is testing his fortunes in the Lok Sabha elections for the second time. He had been defeated in the 1991 parliamentary elections. 

Bangarappa defeated Ayanur Manjunath (BJP) in the 1996 elections, by a margin of 72,236 votes. He had contested as a candidate of the Karnataka Congress Party that he had floated after quitting the Congress.

Manjunath defeated Bangarappa in the 1998 election. The latter slipped to the third position. It was the first defeat Bangarappa (as the Karnataka Vikas Party nominee) suffered in his political career spanning over 40 years. He secured 1,86,731 votes against Manjunath’s 3,52,277 votes. He came back strongly to win the next three elections in 1999, 2004 and 2005 (byelection). 

He was the Samajwadi Party candidate in the 2005 polls against Manjunath, who had then contested from the Congress. That was the time  when the Congress-JD(S) government was in power and political pundits had predicted a victory for Manjunath. But Bangarappa romped home with a margin of 16,637 votes. 

Bangarappa and Manjunath came face to face in Lok Sabha elections five times, but the latter could win only once. 

In the 2009 elections, the last he faced, he was defeated by B Y Raghavendra (Yeddyurappa’s son) of the BJP. 

The elections this time around present an interesting battle. One has to see whether Geetha can tame Yeddyurappa in his own den. They are up against Manjunath Bhandary of the Congress.