The Hindu : Karnataka News : Political activism brings prosperity to this village

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Karnataka

Karnataka

Political activism brings prosperity to this village

Firoz Rozindar

Bhimsamudra is 20 km from Chitradurga

Villagers are financially sound
It has a population of 1,273

Chitradurga: Bhimsamudra, a small village located 20 km from Chitradurga, is famous not only for arecanut and mining but also popular for producing several noted political leaders. With a population of 1,273, the literacy rate of Bhimsamudra is 78 per cent as per the 2001 Census.

Thanks to the richness of the village in producing arecanut and abundance of ore, a considerable number of villagers are financially sound.

Perhaps, this has prompted the villagers to join politics. The political activity in the village began way back in 1969 with MLC B.T. Chennabasappa’s father, B.T. Veerannavar, contesting for the first time in a taluk board election.

Since then, the trend is on in the village. Two leaders who are presently active in the filed are Davangere MP and Bharatiya Janata Party State vice-president G.M. Siddeshwar and Mr. Chennabasappa.

G.S. Manjunath, who is contesting the elections from Chitradurga constituency on a BJP ticket, too hails from Bhimsamudra. His father, G. Shivappa, was an MLA from Holalkere taluk.

After the death of Mr. Veerannavar, who had set the trend, his wife, B.T. Rudramma, entered politics by contesting the zilla panchayat elections during the former Chief Minister, late Ramakrishna Hegde’s rule. She went on to become an MLC. Later, it came to her son (Mr. Chennabasappa) who has been holding the seat for the past over nine years.

Mr. Siddeshwar also entered politics after the departure of his father Mallikarjunappa who was an MP.

“Money plays vital role in politics. One needs to have an ample financial background to enter this field. Since most of the political leaders of the village are either owners of arecanut farms or mines, they find it easy to gain entry to politics,” said a businessman of the village, R. Chikkanna.

He claimed that most of the time, rich people enter politics to secure and expand their business without any legal hurdles.

Reasons to enter politics could be many. However, political activism has brought better amenities and infrastructure to village. The village not only has better road connectivity, water supply and sanitation facility, it has also got five primary schools, one high school and one pre-university college.

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