Karnataka   

Bangera brothers to lock horns again

BELTHANGADY: Belthangady constituency in Dakshina Kannada is dominated by arecanut, cocoa and rubber growers.

Cocoa is grown as an inter-crop in the arecanut plantations. Rubber is grown in approximately 7,000 hectares. A moulded rubber manufacturing unit owned by Belthangady Taluk Rubber Growers’ Marketing and Processing Cooperative Limited is the only prominent industry in the district. At Savanalu, there is a garment production unit managed by a group of women.

The constituency has hamlets of Malekudiya tribal people in the Western Ghats. Ujire town is the hub of many educational institutions. The constituency has a famous temple at Dharmasthala and a darga at Kajur.

Belthangady is witnessing a clash of two brothers, both former MLAs, one of whom recently changed parties. Another MLA, who too changed his political party, is also in the race making it a three-cornered contest.

This is the second time that the Bangera brothers are fighting against each other. In their first contest in 1994, Prabhakar Bangera (BJP) lost to Vasant Bangera (Janata Dal).

Mr. Prabhakar Bangera, a two-time MLA, is facing his elder brother Mr. Vasant Bangera, a three-time MLA, of the Congress. Besides, there is K. Gangadhara Gowda, a two-time MLA from the Janata Dal (Secular). Mahesh Shetty Timarodi, a BJP rebel, is contesting as an independent.

Mr. Vasant Bangera was with the BJP before joining the Janata Dal. He joined the Congress just ahead of the announcement of the election and managed to get the party ticket. Mr. Gowda had been with the Congress since 1970s and joined the Janata Dal (S) after he was denied the ticket.

Mr. Vasant Bangera was Chief Whip in the Assembly and president of the district unit of the Janata Dal (S). He won as a BJP candidate in the 1983 and 1985 elections, and in 1994 election as a Janata Dal nominee.

Mr. Gowda won as a Congress candidate in 1978 and 1989 elections. Mr. Gowda lost to Mr. Prabhakar Bangera of the BJP in the 1999 election. Mr. Prabhakar Bangera also won the seat as a BJP candidate in the 2004 elections.

Mr. Gowda and Mr. Vasant Bangera have targeted the BJP for not improving major roads such as Guruvayanakere-Uppinangady Road, Kokkada-Shishila Road and Somanthadkka-Didupe and Neriya-Gandibagilu Road.

The BJP has taken on Mr. Vasant Bangera for changing political loyalty for the sake of power.

Mr. Gowda is trying to impress upon the voters that “the rule of brothers” from a single familyshould end.

It is said that a section of the Congress workers are supporting Mr. Gowda, as he had been associated with that party for a long time.

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