BENGALURU: Grief descended on Bengaluru South, the Lok Sabha constituency on which he had maintained his stronghold till he passed away on Monday, winning the seat six consecutive times.
Ananth, who won in 1996 defeating V G Rao (Congress), has etched his work in the minds of residents of the constituency. Many loyal voters from the constituency told TNIE that there is definitely a void created with the deaths of two very important personalities this year — Ananth and B N Vijayakumar, BJP MLA, who died a week before the 2018 Assembly polls in May.
“I have been following him since 1996. I was still in college then, but I remember how he was very popular and was spoken about for his work in Bengaluru. Our entire family has been his loyal voters. His speeches used to be something we would look forward to,” said Sai Ram Mohan, a residnt of Vijayanagar.Meanwhile, Rangappa Damodar, 65, a resident of Jayanagar said that Ananth was popular across society.
He has established many schemes for south Bengalureans, including e-Kshema healthcare kiosks. “This kind of kiosk, which was the first of its kind in India, really helped people like me. I used to take my wife for regular checkups there. Who could think of getting BP checked for Rs 5, ECG for Rs 25 and blood test for Rs 10,” he said.
Prasad M, a member of the BTM Brahman Sabha, said, “He was always approachable. Several times we have come to his residence to meet him, and he would always make sure that we were served food and coffee. Even his wife would do the same at their organisation Adamya Chetana.” Ali Khan, a BCom student said, “Every election we knew that 70% of young voters looked forward to vote for Ananth Kumar. Bangalore South has always been for the Lotus.”