TUMAKURU: It was during 1977-78 as a teenager Minister S R Srinivas (Vasu) received the state bravery award from the then governor Govind Narain for saving a boy from drowning in an open well at Chidambara ashram.
On Wednesday, it was a big honour for him to take oath from Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala as minister. The never-say-die attitude seemingly sealed the cabinet berth for the four-time MLA who never tasted defeat in his political career. He was born to Ramegowda-Mangalamma couple at Servegaranapalya village in Gubbi taluk on July 14, 1961.
His father, a liquor contractor, was also a Congress party leader. What his father could not scale in political ladder Vasu did it. He tested the political waters by winning a Zilla Pachayat seat and never turned back. In 2004, he won Gubbi seat as an independent and as a JD(S) nominee in 2008, 2013 and 2018. Interestingly, when his wife Bharati lost the ZP polls a couple of years ago he learned from his mistakes to score a fourth consecutive win this time.
In a way luck too was on his side in 2018 as he would have lost if BJP rebel candidate Dileep Kumar who grabbed over 30,000 voters was not in the fray. Factors such as his friendly approach with ordinary people throughout his career and his grit to get the share of Hemavathy river water into tanks in his constituency seemingly gave him an edge.
Evidently, after a through campaign he was sipping his cup of morning coffee at Boyer’s Hotel on the polling day which showed his preparedness, observed K N Puttalingaiah, an analyst.His foreign educated son Dushyanth too reportedly sacrificed his dream of pursuing a post graduate programme and had campaigned for his father.