Veteran Congress leader and MLA of Jamkhandi taluk, Siddu Bhimappa Nyamagouda (69), died in a road accident at Tulasigere village in Bagalkot taluk early on Monday.
Mr. Nyamagouda — who had gone to Delhi to be part of the ongoing negotiations for portfolio allocations — was returning to his native town Jamkhandi via Goa when the front left tyre of his car burst and the vehicle hit a median.
The Congressman was called “Barrage Siddu” by farmers because of his role in the construction of the Chikkapadasalagi barrage in Jamkhandi nearly 30 years ago, without government support. The fund for this ₹94-lakh project and labour was completely voluntary.
What had spurred him to helm this project was the plight of sugarcane farmers of Jamkhandi, who were struggling for water. He convinced them to contribute money and human resources for constructing a barrage across the Krishna at Chikkapadasalgi village.
The project finally took off in 1983 and was completed in 1989. At that time, even the international media had spotlighted this unique initiative.
Even after nearly 30 years, the barrage is still considered a lifeline for sugarcane farmers of Jamkhandi and Athani of Belagavi district.
His work on the barrage catapulted his political career from that of a farmers’ leader.
He fought the Lok Sabha polls in 1991 against the former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde and won from Bijapur North. Despite being a political novice, he was made Minister of State for Coal in the then P.V. Narasimha Rao government.
In later years, Mr. Nyamagouda served as MLC and was elected MLA of Jamkhandi in 2013 Assembly elections, and got re-elected in the recently held Assembly elections. Because of his seniority, this time, he was also in the race to become a Minister in the coalition government.
Mr. Nyamagounda is survived by wife Sumitra, three daughters, and two sons. The last rites will be performed on Tuesday morning inside Jamkhandi Sugar Factory (Nyamagouda was chairman of the factory). His mortal remains will be placed in the Polo Grounds of Jamkhandi town for the people to pay their respects.
AICC president Rahul Gandhi expressed his condolences and has written to Ms. Sumitra stating that the party has lost one of its most influential leaders.
