Sarekoppa Bangarappa

Sarekoppa Bangarappa (26 October 1933 – 26 December 2011) was an Indian politician who was the 9th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1990 to 1992.

He served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Karnataka between 1967 and 1996, before contesting a series of six elections for the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 2009, of which he lost two. He founded both the Karnataka Vikas Party and the Karnataka Congress Party during a 44-year career in which his supporters called him Solillada Saradara (a leader who cannot be defeated). As well as these two parties, Bangarappa was at various times a member of the Indian National Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (Secular), and his critics described him as a party-hopper because of this.

Early life Bangarappa was born on 26 October 1933 in Kubatur village, Soraba Taluk, Shimoga district, Karnataka. He married Shakuntala in 1958 and the couple had five children, including the actor Kumar Bangarappa and film maker Madhu Bangarappa, both of whom have also been politicians. He came from the Deevaru- Idiga community.

He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, a similar degree in Law and a Diploma in Social Science. He stayed in Kubaturu with his joint family he also had a sister named bangaramma.His niece K S Palakshappa and his son Girish took care of the house hold. of which his Deevaru origins made him a member. Subsequently, he joined the Indian National Congress (INC) and became a minister in the government of Devaraj Urs,

In 1983, he left the INC and became involved with the Karnataka Kranti Ranga (Karnataka Revolutionary Front, also known as the Kannada Kranti Ranga) that had been established a few years earlier by the now-deceased Urs. A brief alliance between the KKR and the Janata Party (JP) resulted in the 1983 election of the first non-INC government in the state. Although there had been speculation that he would be appointed Chief Minister in that government, this post went instead to Ramakrishna Hegde of the JP. Bangarappa gradually realigned himself with the INC after spending some time supporting the government of Hegde. His term had been marred by several allegations of his involvement in scandals, such as that involving Classik Computers, although he was cleared of any impropriety in that case. His removal followed his government's failure in handling the Cauvery riots.

Bangarappa left the INC after his removal and formed the Karnataka Congress Party (KCP). His election successes after leaving the chief ministership demonstrated the extent of his personal support with the electorate, which seemed not to be reliant upon the political party to which he belonged, although his popularity declined over time. He came to be seen as a "turncoat politician" who lacked ideology and principle and who moved from one party to another according to whichever he considered to be the most likely to gain power at the time. He then, went on to form the Karnataka Vikas Party (KVP) and lost in 1998 as a representative of the KVP. However, he was re-elected in 1999 as an INC candidate. In 2004, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was re-elected to the Lok Sabha as a BJP candidate with a large majority. In 2005 he resigned from the BJP and joined the Samajwadi Party, sparking a by-election to the Lok Sabha that he won. In 2008, he contested against the BJP Chief Ministerial candidate, Yeddyurappa, in the Shikaripura assembly seat and lost heavily. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, he lost to Yeddyurappa's son, B. Y. Raghavendra, of the BJP. In that last election, Bangarappa had represented the INC. Later, in December 2010 and with his political career in decline, Bangarappa joined the Janata Dal (Secular).

Death Bangarappa suffered from diabetes and died on 26 December 2011 in a Bangalore hospital due to multiple causes. His funeral was attended by a large number of supporters and was held with state honours at his native village.

Police had to intervene during the funeral ceremonies due to disputes between factions, much of which appeared to revolve around family differences involving Kumar and Madhu Bangarappa. Comments made by Bangarappa at the time of the 2004 assembly elections caused problems for his son, Kumar, who was at that time a minister in the INC government of S. M. Krishna. Kumar represented his father's old constituency, Soraba, and differences of opinion between the two men had already surfaced, which Bangarappa appeared to delight in publicising but Kumar attempted to play down. Kumar reacted to his father's decision to join the BJP in order to contest the Lok Sabha elections by himself resigning from the INC and his ministerial role. Kumar then discovered that his politically inexperienced younger brother, Madhu Bangarappa, had been selected by the BJP to fight the constituency, apparently at the instigation of his father. Kumar returned to the INC and agreed to stand for election against his brother, determined to make a point to his father and to support Krishna's desire to see Bangarappa humiliated on what was his "home turf". Bangarappa campaigned for Madhu and attempted to mobilise his own support to that end. However, although Bangarappa himself won handsomely from the Shimoga Lok Sabha seat, he was unable to secure the victory of Madhu in Soraba.

Positions held 1967-96: Member, Karnataka Legislative Assembly (7 terms, from Soraba) 1977-78: Minister of State, Home, Government of Karnataka 1978-79: Cabinet Minister, P.W.D., Government of Karnataka 1979-80: President, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee [K.P.C.C. (I)] 1980-81: Minister, Revenue and Agriculture, Government of Karnataka 1985-87: Leader of Opposition, Karnataka Legislative Assembly 1989-90: Minister, Agriculture and Horticulture, Government of Karnataka 1990-92: Chief Minister, Karnataka 1996: Elected to 11th Lok Sabha as a KCP candidate 1998: President, Karnataka Vikas Paksha; but came third in Lok Sabha election in Shimoga seat. 1999: Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (2nd term) as an INC candidate 2004: Re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha (3rd term) as a BJP candidate 2005: Re-elected to Lok Sabha in a by-election from Samajwadi party . 2008: Lost in State Assembly elections (to Yediyurappa in Shikaripura) 2009: Lost in 2009 General Elections of Lok Sabha, Shimoga seat December 2010: Joined the JD (S)