Fate, it seems, took the late farmers’ leader Siddu B. Nyamagouda to Goa instead of Bengaluru. The expensive rate of an air ticket to Bengaluru forced him to take a flight to Goa, from where he travelled by road to Jamkhandi but met with a fatal accident.
According to Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, Mr. Nyamagouda, after meeting Congress leaders, including him and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, in New Delhi, left to the airport. “At the airport, he found the ticket to Bengaluru was priced at ₹60,000 while a ticket to Goa the same night was available for ₹10,000. Since he did not have much money, he chose to fly to Goa,” Dr. Parameshwara said while paying tribute to him during the obituary reference in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
The deceased leader, who was known for constructing a private barrage across the Krishna river by collecting money from farmers, died in the early hours on May 28 after the car in which he was returning home from the Goa airport met with an accident. Mr. Nyamagouda, who had been re-elected to the Assembly in the recent polls, was in Delhi to lobby for a ministerial berth.
He had emerged as a giant killer in 1991, when he defeated the former Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde from Bagalkot in the Lok Sabha elections and later became Union Minister.
In all, the House paid respects to 11 former members, including Mr. Nyamagouda.
According to Deputy Leader of the Opposition Govind Karjol, the late leader had not returned home since his electoral victory on May 12. Soon after the results were declared, he had left home and was constantly travelling between Bengaluru and New Delhi. Mr. Siddaramaiah, in his condolence speech, said there were chances of him becoming a Minister this time.
The House also paid respects to Mahadevappa Shivabasappa Pattan, who had participated in the Quit India Movement and later became a member of the Assembly from Ramdurg in 1957 as an Independent.
Y.N. Rudresh Gowda, B.N. Vijaykumar, H.B. Byaveerappa, B. Muniyappa, Sadashivappa Patil, K.H. Hanumegowda, Y.C. Vishwanath, H. Gangadharan, and B.S. Patil Sasanur were also remembered.
