A Congman all his life, Krishnappa switched sides last year

State JD(S) president A Krishnappa, who passed away on Wednesday, began his political career in 1985 when he was elected MLA from the then Varthur constituency, which he represented four times. He had served as minister in various portfolios, including horticulture, animal husbandry, sugar and social welfare.

Krishnappa, who was with the Congress for nearly three decades, quit the party and joined the JD(S) in the run-up to the 2013 Assembly elections, as he was denied the ticket to contest from KR Puram. He unsuccessfully contested from Hiriyur Assembly constituency in Chitradurga as the JD(S) candidate. After the delimitation of constituencies in 2008, a major portion of Varthur constituency became part of the newly created KR Puram constituency. He lost from KR Puram in the 2008 Assembly elections as a Congress candidate.

He was made the JD(S) State president in September 2013, when H D Kumaraswamy resigned, owning moral responsibility for the poor performance of the party in the bypolls to the Bangalore Rural and Mandya parliamentary constituencies. The JD(S) tried to project him as the backward classes face of the party.

Krishnappa was the founder chairman of the South East Asian Education Trust, which runs a chain of educational institutions. JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda expressed shock at the death of the party leader. “This is the biggest shock in my 52 years of political life. I do not know why God gave me this shock at this age,” he said.

Kumaraswamy, who was in Singapore for a holiday, will return on Thursday to pay his last respects to the leader.

No change in poll process

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anil Kumar Jha said that the election process for the Tumkur Lok Sabha constituency will continue as scheduled, despite the demise of the candidate.

“The counting process will go on as scheduled. If a candidate scores the highest number of votes, posthumously, then the election will be considered infructuous and there will be a re-election. If any other candidate polls the highest number of votes, that candidate will be elected and re-election will not be held,” Jha said.