BENGALURU: Former MLA Shrishailappa Bidarur died of a cardiac arrest at a resort at Varthur near here on Friday. Bidarur fell ill at a Congress event where an interaction of party aspirants with top leaders was scheduled to be held. As the meeting started, Bidarur collapsed in the hall at the venue and vomited. Congress leaders rushed to him and Dr Vanitha tried CPR on the leader, but in vain.
He was shifted to a hospital in Bengaluru in party MP DK Suresh’s car, but was declared brought dead. “Senior leader Bidarur had a cardiac arrest and unfortunately he could not recover. After having deliberations with the AICC general secretary and KPCC working presidents, we have decided to postpone the meeting”, said KPCC chief DK Shivakumar.
The meeting will now be held on Sunday through a virtual platform. “My homage to former MLA Shrishailappa Bidarur who died after a massive heart attack today and heartfelt condolences to the family members, friends and all the supporters”, AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted. Bidarur had won the Rona Assembly seat in 1998 and from Gadag in 2008 as a BJP candidate and was a loyalist of former chief minister B S Yediyurappa.
He joined the Congress party in 2019 and was expected to be the Congress party’s nominee from Rona assembly constituency in the 2023 assembly polls. Most of the 1,350 aspirants from 224 assembly constituencies from across the state, who had already applied for tickets, had gathered at the venue. According to sources, some senior party leaders were upset about the applications being called from aspirants as it resulted in stiff competition with even some non-Congress people applying for tickets.
“This may lead to confusion in some Assembly constituencies. Many aspirants will turn a thorn in the flesh of official candidates and may even demand funds to withdraw themselves from the contest”, a leader observed.