BANGALORE: Senescent Sarekoppa Bangarappa is bundled out of election politics after a colourful political career of 42 years. His present defeat in the Lok Sabha election is his second successive defeat. In May 2008, he tasted defeat, the third in his career, in Shikaripur Assembly segment in the hands of BS Yeddyurappa.Considering the difference (52,893 votes) with which Bangarappa’s rival BY Raghavendra, the elder son of the Chief Minister, humbled him, victory was not unachievable for him, but for his ten blunders.
The series of blunders began almost six months ago when some Congress leaders invited him to join the Congress. Then he was the Samajwadi Party MP from Shimoga constituency. He did not accept the invitation. But what irritated the leaders was his arrogance and his pungent criticism about the party leadership.
When the SP and the Congress had plans to tie-up in the Parliament election, he toured Shimoga constituency projecting himself as the common candidate of the two parties. But as the response was very poor, he decided to join the Congress.
He approached his love-hate friend Kagodu Thimmappa with a request to invite him to the party. Kagodu organised a party meeting and ensured that a one-line resolution was passed inviting Bangarappa.
By this time, it was evident the BJP would field Raghavendra, who is half Bangarappa’s age.
Bangarappa could have tried to get a ticket for his elder son Kumar, who has remained in the Congress. But Bangarappa wanted the party ticket for himself At a party meeting in Shimoga, he tried to play a caste game by dividing the voters into upper and oppressed castes. But he did not continue this game for long because of which he lost out on votes.
Kagodu Thimmappa, who made a scathing attack on the upper castes, was issued an arrest warrant. Had Thimmappa courted arrest, things could have been totally different. The castebased divide among the voters would have been widened and Bangarappa would have profited.
During a campaign, Bhadravati Congress MLA Sangamesh, a Lingayat, clashed with Bangarappa at a party programme organised in that industrial town. Sangamesh’s followers ruined the programme. Bangarappa did not try to exploit this incident to his advantage. He could have made this incident snowball into a big controversy and play his caste game again.
Usually stolid, Bangarappa failed to control his tongue all through the campaign. He used to criticise voters and party leaders with words not becoming of his age, experience and culture.
This made many of the party leaders distance themselves from the campaign.
He did not focus on the campaign as seriously as he used to do in his earlier elections. This demoralized the workers.
And, finally, on the last couple of days he was not visible anywhere in the constituency.
