Original Congressmen on backseat

Gauribidanur has a significant place in the struggle for freedom in Karnataka. The decision taken at Vidurashwatha in the taluk to hoist the national flag led to a tragedy known as ‘Karnataka’s Jallianwala Bagh’ in 1938. Since then, Gauribidanur has close ties with the Indian National Congress.

Congress candidates have maintained an upper hand in all the elections held right from the first election in 1952. It has been a stronghold of Congress from the last 20 years. But it is widely said in the political circles that a few Congressmen have taken the lead by neglecting the original Congressmen of late. Incidentally, several Congress leaders have gone into oblivion giving credence to this fact.

V Krishnarao was a one-time MLA in 1973, a three-time MP and later served as the president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. He was a political Guru to many leaders of the region. But his sons K Nagabhushan Rao and Venkataravanappa do not have not any based in the party.

Senior leader G V Krishnamurthy of Gotakanapur, who hails from Hindu Sadar community, worked loyally for Congress for more than 30 years. He was also an MLA for one term and carved his own niche in the taluk politics. His supporters claim that his sons did not due respect in the party.

Krishnamurthy’s son G K Sathish Kumar was the taluk Congress unit president. Another son G K Ramesh was the vice president of the undivided Kolar Zilla Panchayat. But today, the Congressmen regret that they have no base in the party and have remained away from active politics.

When contacted, Sathish Kumar said, “The local MLA has been giving positions for new faces from the last ten years, neglecting the old Congressmen.”

B N K Papaiah and his family members who were active after he won the election in 1978 are nowhere to be heard now. MLA S V Ashwath Narayan Reddy was close to Krishna Rao. Reddy’s son Srinivas Reddy was a Zilla Panchayat member once. Now, no one from his family are in politics.

K V Hanumappa Reddy, son of MLA K H Venkat Reddy, joined BJP as he was fed up with the behaviour of the Congress leaders. Aryavaishya community leader and loyal party worker Isturi Subbaiah Shetty’s two sons are not active in the party and do not have any base either.

The condition of Kamalakar, son of another senior leader Hanumanthaiah Shetty, is also not good. It is said that the efforts being made by M N Radhakrishna, son of freedom fighter P O Narayanachar of Melya village in Nagaragere hobli from the last two decades have not yielded any results so far.

The family members of senior leader Doddakurugodu D S Narasingarao, who was the Sports Council president during Devaraj Urs term, are not connected with the party anymore. Similarly, the family members of Kadaranahalli K G Basappa, who was the District Congress Committee president and close to former chief minister S Nijalingappa, are also not in the party.

The charges that the sitting MLAs built up their own group and neglected the original Congress are still green. But the supporters of the MLAs deny these charges. Calls made to District Congress Committee K N Keshav Reddy to gather his view in this regard remained futile.