Karnataka elections: Brother vs brother in battle to claim former CM’s legacy

A two-hour drive from Shivamogga city in Karnataka, cracked and dusty bitumen roads lead to a tiny village of 70-80 houses in Sorab taluk. “These are some of the difficult areas I’ve visited during the campaign. These people ask a lot of questions but political leaders don’t answer. I explain and address their queries. I tell them I can help them only if they give me the power to do so,” Madhu Bangarappa, the Congress’s candidate from the constituency, says while campaigning for next month’s assembly elections.

The villagers huddle together as Madhu begins his address, with a picture of his late father and former Karnataka chief minister S Bangarappa in the backdrop. “Who gave you programmes which are alive even today? Who gave free electricity to farmers, which has made your life easier? Bangarappa ji did. He could do that because he was voted to power,” Madhu says, as the crowd cheers him on.

But it’s not just Madhu who is riding on Bangarappa’s legacy and goodwill to win Sorab, a constituency nurtured by the latter. His brother and sitting MLA Kumar Bangarappa, who is contesting from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is seeking a re-election from the seat and trying to claim his father’s legacy.

As Bangarappa’s two sons are set to cross swords in the May 10 elections, Madhu invokes his late father in every village he visits in the state during the campaign. “I invoke him not just here, but even when I tour across the state. People want this. They ask me about him,” he says.

Madhu recalls how his father’s scheme of free power for irrigation pumps up to 10 HP (high pressure) is even alive today. The scheme was started by the Congress government led by Bangarappa, from 1990-1992.

Madhu vs Kumar

The Sorab constituency remained Bangarappa’s bastion for several decades as he represented the seat for seven consecutive terms, from 1967 to 1994, mostly on Congress tickets. When Bangarappa was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1994, he left the constituency to his elder son, Kumar.

In the 1999 assembly elections, Kumar retained the seat and went on to become the minister of state in the SM Krishna-led Congress government.

The rift between the two brothers widened ahead of the 2004 elections, when Bangarappa joined the BJP and fielded Madhu from the party from Sorab constituency. Kumar followed in his father’s footsteps but rejoined the Congress on the same day after he learnt that his father had decided to field Madhu from Sorab seat.

In 2008, Bangarappa joined and contested the assembly polls on a Samajwadi Party ticket. Kumar was the Congress candidate. Former minister Haratalu Halappa, once a staunch supporter of Bangarappa, contested from Sorab on a BJP ticket and won the polls.

In 2010, Bangarappa joined JD(S). He died a year later. In 2013, Madhu won from Sorab, this time on a JD(S) ticket. After Bangarappa’s death in 2011, Madhu’s animosity towards his brother continued and in the 2018 assembly elections, he was defeated by Kumar by 3,286 votes.

Family feud

The sibling rivalry between Madhu and Kumar has taken several ugly turns in the past, as both sides leveled various allegations against each other.

Madhu, however, says he is not comfortable talking about their family feud anymore. “Because at the end of the day, we are Bangarappa’s children. But it hurts me personally. When you use the sibling rivalry narrative, there are followers of Bangarappa here who don’t know what exactly happened,” he says.

“My father, mother and I walked out of our house at midnight. People don’t know that. We don’t say that my brother threw us out of the house. My brother was the minister then. My father walked out and said if you want to stay with your brother, you can… People may think why are Bangarappa’s children fighting like this. So, I try not to answer,” he adds.

Asked how it feels to be pitted against his brother, Madhu points out that it was his father’s decision and he abided by it. “My father was alive when I stood against him. It was not my decision. My father said that he made a mistake of fielding him and that he was disappointed. So, he said he was going to use me to take care of it. He said that it would be tough but I had to do it.”

He adds: “After I was pitted against my brother, I lost two elections. Then I lost my father. Since my father told me to stand against him, the only person who can cancel (withdraw the decision to fight) this is him, which is not going to happen because he is not around.”

Last month, Kumar had lashed out at his brother, saying Madhu is a “one-term MLA”, who won the elections on a wave of sympathy and not on his own strength.

On Madhu’s claims that he had kicked them out of the house in 2004, Kumar says: “In 2004, Madhu Bangarappa, who lied that Kumara Bangarappa had kicked his parents out, at that time, took a loan on the house and dumped it on his parents. He then hid in places like Chennai and Bombay for three months.”

Recently, Kumar had alleged that Congress leaders did not offer assistance to the people during the Covid-19 pandemic but are now seeking votes ahead of the elections. “The Congress is an election-time guest. They don’t know anything about development. On May 10, the voters will decide who will win,” he said at a public meeting in Sorab.

Madhu says he is banking on his connection with people across all sections in his constituency, like his father, for support. He says that he hopes that the corruption in the BJP and lack of implementation of development works would tilt the balance in his favour.

Kumar says he is confident that he would be able to retain his seat.