The Hindu : Raju Gowda's death may alter political equations in Hanur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 26, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

Raju Gowda's death may alter political equations in Hanur

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, MARCH 25 . The death of the former Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing, Raju Gowda, is likely to have an impact on the election to the Assembly from the Hanur constituency from where Parimala Nagappa, wife of the former Minister, H. Nagappa, is expected to contest.

Mr. Raju Gowda's death has fuelled speculations that the Congress may choose to field the kin of the former Minister to neutralise the sympathy factor in favour Ms. Parimala Nagappa, who is tipped to become the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate for the constituency.

Mr. Raju Gowda and Nagappa had been political foes in the Hanur Assembly segment in Chamarajanagar district, which is located on the State's border with Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Raju Gowda had defeated Nagappa in the 1999 Assembly elections after losing to him in the 1994 elections. The death of Nagappa while in the custody of the forest brigand, Veerappan, in December 2002 shocked the people of the region.

The Janata Dal (S) roped Ms. Parimala Nagappa into the party and decided to field her in the Hanur constituency for the coming elections to capitalise on the sympathy factor.

On her part, Ms. Nagappa justified her entry into politics to expose the "irresponsibility'' of the Congress Government, which refused to hand over the case related to her husband's mysterious death to the CBI.

Though Mr. Raju Gowda had been ailing for some time now and had opted out of the electoral race, he had requested the Congress leadership to consider his son, Narendra, advocate, as a candidate for the constituency. But a local businessman, Sampangi Ramaiah, emerged as a strong candidate for the Congress nomination.

Political observers said that Mr. Raju Gowda's death could turn the tide in favour of Mr. Narendra.

They said the Congress, which had persuaded Nagappa's son-in-law, Kiran Patel, to join it, would been keen on offsetting the sympathy factor in favour of Ms. Parimala Nagappa by fielding Mr. Narendra.

The entry of Ms. Parimala Nagappa and Mr. Narendra into the electoral fray may intensify the political conflict between the two families.

The rift between the two families accentuated when Veerappan abducted Nagappa from his residence at Kamagere in August 2002. Mr. Raju Gowda, who was then not only the Minister of State for Agricultural Marketing but also the Minister in-charge of Chamarajanagar, offered to go into the forests and secure Nagappa's safe release if the State Government named him as the official emissary.

Mr. Gowda was forced to withdraw his offer after the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, viewed his remarks seriously. Later, Mr. Raju Gowda had claimed that there was no need for him to go to the forests as Nagappa was safe. Six months after Nagappa's death, Mr. Raju Gowda was not only relieved of his responsibility as the Minister in-charge of Chamarajanagar district but was also divested of his portfolio of Agricultural Marketing.

He was appointed Chairman of the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation.

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