MANGALURU: It has been a decades’ long wait for S Angara, a six-time MLA from Sullia assembly constituency in Dakshina Kannada, who finally made it to the State Cabinet on Wednesday. The name of the 62-year-old, who represents a SC-reserved constituency, would float whenever BJP was in power ever since it stitched an alliance with JDS to form the government in 2006, but a minister’s post somehow always eluded him.Angara’s prospects seemed bright when B S Yediyurappa took oath as chief minister again about one-and-a-half years ago, as the five others elected along with him from Dakshina Kannada district were first-timers.
But the soft-spoken MLA didn’t stand a chance amid stiff lobbying from others, especially
the turncoats. Angara, who dropped out of high school to support his family by working as a daily wager in arecanut plantations, always believed that his work should fetch him a minister’s post.
When the BJP decided to field him for MLA election for the first time in 1994, he was still working as a daily wager. He is known for simplicity and still lives in Dasanakaje village where he was born. “It is a miracle. We had given up hopes of him becoming a minister in this government, given the stiff lobbying from many aspirants. Angara didn’t lobby and yet got it, which is something great,” said a party leader. Angara is most likely to replace Kota Srinivas Poojary as Dakshina Kannada’s district in-charge minister as the latter is from Udupi.