From being born in a farmers’ family without the resources to educate its children to being the biggest lender to farmers in the district, Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli has had the proverbial meteoric rise in life.
The District Central Cooperative Bank that he headed for 30 years, releases annual crop loans to the tune of Rs. 2,000 crore to six out of 10 farmers in the district. This year, it released an additional Rs. 900 crore to farmers as the district was suffering from drought.
The around 20,000 self-help groups promoted by the bank have deposited around Rs. 100 crore in banks. Their annual internal lending crosses Rs. 600 crore.
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S.B. Deshmukh, a friend of the Nagamarapalli family, describes him as a man with a large heart. “He helped several people even when he was out of power,” he said.
Born Gurupadappa Sanganabasappa Gode, he came to be known after his native village of Nagamarapalli, while he was fighting the primary agriculture cooperative society election in Chintaki in Aurad taluk, according to Mr. Deshmukh.
“He was an institution builder,” says long-time associate Dadarao Kolekar.
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He resurrected the DCC bank, established the Naranja Sahakari Sakkare Karakhane, set up the Sharada rural employment and self employment training institute and the Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli cooperative hospital. Thousands of families have benefited from these institutions, he said.
Mr. Nagamarapalli also gained from his long association with mentor Manikrao Patil, the former Home Minister who hailed from Thana Kushnoor in Aurad taluk.
Political graph
He started working as the secretary of the primary agriculture credit society in Chintaki in Aurad taluk and later organised the agriculture produce marketing societies and was elected the district representative of the Taluk Agriculture Produce Cooperative Marketing Society. He went on to become the vice president of the Karnataka state cooperative marketing federation and president of the Karnataka state apex bank.
He contested his first election as a Janata Party candidate from Aurad in 1985. As a Janata Dal nominee, he won the 1989 and 1994 polls.
He lost the 1999 elections to traditional rival Gundappa Vakil of the BJP in 1999. But bounced back in 2004.
After delimitation, he contested from Bidar (north) and won as a Congress nominee in 2008. He resigned from the legislative assembly and the party to enter the ring as a BJP nominee for the Lok Sabha polls in 2009. He lost to N. Dharam Singh. In 2013, after differences with the local BJP leaders, Mr. Nagamarapalli followed the former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa into the KJP and entered the Assembly.
He later joined the BJP along with three other KJP MLAs.
He served as a minister for prisons and home guards for seven days in the short lived S.R. Bommai Ministry. J.H. Patel made him the Forest Minister for three years between 1996-99. He held the same portfolio in the N. Dharam Singh ministry in 2005-06.
Several institutions including the district cooperative union and the Karnataka Souharda federal cooperative, have condoled the death of the cooperative leader.