The Hindu : Bangarappa shows his strength

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 22, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Bangarappa shows his strength

By Our Special Correspondent

SHIMOGA April 21. By organising the programme of free distribution of paddy seeds and rice in his native Sorab taluk in Shimoga District on Saturday and Sunday, the former Chief Minister, S.Bangarappa, MP, has proved that he continues to be a mass leader.

The fact that he could get over 10,000 quintals of paddy seeds and about 3,000 quintals of rice from donors in various districts has been cited as testimony to his popularity. Many said that Mr. Bangarappa had done what the Government could not do.

Though his initiative to distribute paddy seeds and rice among the people of the drought-affected areas in his native taluk came to be dubbed by his detractors as yet another image-building exercise, it is needless to say that the programme has been received well by the people who were all praise for his "genuine" concern to their problems.

The response to the programme has showed his sway on the people of the taluk, which is one of the most backward in the State.

Though Mr. Bangarappa sought to treat the programme as a non-political event, it, however, sent a political message that he was still a force to reckon with.

It was a real Bangarappa show which could be accomplished by Mr. Bangarappa himself -- a political maverick who always thinks and acts independently.

For him, the party label hardly matters and perhaps it is for this reason that he managed to win the Sorab Assembly seat continuously from 1967 though on different party tickets till he decided to vacate the Assembly seat in favour of his son to contest the Lok Sabha election from the Shimoga constituency in 1996.

While arranging the rice and paddy seeds distribution functions in Anavatti and Sorab, care was taken to see that it served only to boost the image of Mr. Bangarappa and it was sought to be made to look like a family affair as his wife, Shakuntala, his sons, and other members of his family participated in the function. Nowhere was the name of the Congress party mentioned.

But the manner in which he ignored the presence of his eldest son and the Minister of State for Minor Irrigation, Kumar Bangarappa, who represents the Sorab Assembly constituency, at the function while lauding the efforts of his second son, Madhu Bangarappa, in making the function a success came as a surprise to many.

The crowd almost became hysterical when Mr. Bangarappa, accompanied by his wife, arrived at the venue. They kept on shouting "Bangarappa zindabad."

Mr. Bangarappa told the audience that it was a strong urge in him to do something to the people in the drought-affected areas in his taluk that prompted him to take up this programme.

Referring to the criticism that he was taking up the programme only in his taluk although the other parts of his parliamentary constituency and the district were also hit by drought, he said: "Of course I have my own limitations and whatever I have been doing is in keeping with my limitations."

He, however, said that nothing prevented others from taking up similar programmes in their areas.

Mr. Bangarappa said he was happy at the positive response of donors to his appeal to contribute their mite to the programme. "I had no major role to play in it. What I did was just to appeal to the donors."

He sought the cooperation of leaders of all hues in mitigating the sufferings of the people in the drought-affected areas as the Government alone could not accomplish the task.

However, the manner in which he arranged the function without involving the party functionaries actively is said to have been viewed seriously by the party leadership.

Mr. Bangarappa has not explained his absence at the golden jubilee celebration of the Kagodu Satyagraha -- the first ever non-violent agrarian movement after Independence - in Sagar.

It is needless to say that the Kagodu Satyagraha was quite significant for him as he was closely associated with the socialist movement.

What came as a surprise was the fact that he was camping in his native village in the neighbouring taluk when the function was held although it was attended among others by the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, and a host of ministers, including Mr. Kumar Bangarappa.

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