It is a political rebirth for Allum Veerbhadrappa, senior Congress leader and former Minister.
The party is fielding him after 14 years as a candidate in the elections to the Legislative Council.
Mr. Veerbhadrappa hails from the Allum family which is well-known in public life and also in mining in and around Ballari district. His parents, Allum Sumangalamma and Allum Karibasappa, have represented Kurgodu Assembly Constituency in the district on different occasions. Mr. Veerbhadrappa himself has represented the constituency for three terms in a row.
He served as Minister in the S.M. Krishna Cabinet and had also held the post of president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He unsuccessfully contested in the 2004 elections.
After the delimitation of constituencies in 2008, Kurgodu Assembly Constituency became Ballari Assembly Constituency and was reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). As a result, Mr. Veerbhadrappa could not contest the elections from Ballari (STs) constituency.
Of the nine Assembly constituencies in the district, only two — Ballari and Vijayanagar — are for General candidates, while five constituencies are reserved STs and two constituencies for Scheduled Castes.
Mr. Veerbhadrappa, who filed his nomination papers on Tuesday, told The Hindu that he was very happy that the party high command had recognised his and his family’s contribution to the party and had now given him an opportunity to return to active politics as he had been deprived of a chance to contest elections on account of reservation.
