One of the most absorbing battles in the Karnataka elections is the contest between the two sons of former chief minister S. Bangarappa for the forty-year family fiefdom of Soraba in Shimoga district.

Elder son Kumar Bangarappa, 45, a two time Congress MLA and a minister in the S.M. Krishna government, is fighting his younger brother and their father’s favourite Madhu Bangarappa, 42, who is contesting on a ticket of the Samajwadi Party, father Bangarappa’s current political sanctuary.

Both Bangarappa kids drew large crowds at their biggest election rally on Monday as the election heat in this keenly watched district rose. While the younger son naturally had his father—who heli hopped into Soraba for the first campaign—by his side, the elder was leaning on former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna.

At the two separate campaigns—held within three hours and 200 metres of each other—in the tiny town of Anahatti in Soraba taluk, neither brother nor their father figures attacked each other.

It was an indication that much water has flowed under the family bridge since the senior Bangarappa in 2004, upset with his elder son’s refusal to move to the BJP, decided to groom his political-greenhorn younger son as the inheritor of a sizable popular vote base.

With just 16 days of campaigning to his credit, Madhu Bangarappa managed 34,000 votes, losing to Kumar by 11,000 votes. The electoral novice got votes solely on the strength of his father’s fame and the sway he holds over their backward caste community of Idigas that is spread over many parts of Karnataka but concentrated in Shimoga district.

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