UDUPI: It’s election time and the most opportune moment to dig the past of the politicians who made it big from humble beginnings. In the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, as a candidate of Congress (I) former councillor of Udupi Town Municipal Corporation, Oscar Fernandes (the current Union Labour Minister) had defeated his political boss T A Pai, former Railway minister and the nominee of Indian National Congress (Urs), a breakaway faction of the Congress (I) led by D Devraj Urs. Oscar had bagged 2,61,738 votes, while his immediate rival Dr V S Acharya (present Home Minister of Karnataka) had got 1,01,769. T A Pai had finished third with just 59,972 votes.
After being elected to the Udupi TMC, Oscar had left his existing job in LIC of India. For his livelihood, he took up the responsibility of running Palace Plastics, a sick industry of Manipal Pai’s. Oscar proved to be a poor industrialist considering the industry continued to be in shambles.
He was almost getting ready for a cushy job in foreign shores, courtesy his high-flying relatives, when the Charan Singh government collapsed and elections were declared.
By that time T A Pai who wished to contest either from Mumbai or from Goa, suddenly decided to contest from Udupi constituency through a Congress (U) ticket. The then Syndicate Bank CMD N N Pai and Shivaji Shetty were lobbying for the Congress (I) ticket at Delhi.
But the Udupi Block Congress found a candidate in `poor’ Oscar Fernandes. A team led by U R Sabhapathi started lobbying for Oscar with local influential leaders like Manorama Madhwaraj backing him. “When Indira Gandhi visited Chikkodi, Congress leaders of Udupi presented Oscar before her. She asked Oscar, “Can you win against industrialist T A Pai?”.
Without blinking Oscar replied ‘Yes Mam’. Rest, as the cliche goes, is history. It is worth recalling that Oscar’s father Rocky Fernandes, a head master in Udupi School, was a teacher of T A Pai and Rocky was proud of his student’s ascent to dizzying heights in the political field.