Farmers movement suffers a jolt, Babagouda Patil dies at 76
2 min read
Belagavi: In a major setback to farmers movement, former union minister and farmer leader Babagouda Patil passed away on Friday. He was 76.
Patil who was suffering from age related illness had been admitted at KLE Hospital in the city for over 10 days.
Patil who had won the Belagavi Lok Sabha election on BJP ticket in 1998, had served as rural development minister in the then Prime Minister A B Vajpayee’s cabinet.
In the later years, he quit BJP and joined JDS, besides hobnobbing with Congress for sometime.
In 2013, he also joined Samajwadi Party (SP) in the presence of its President and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. Patil was made Karnataka State unit president of SP
Though he returned to BJP in 2014, when Pralhad Joshi was the State party president, he severed ties again in the later years.
In the recent Belagavi Lok Sabha by-election, he had announced support to Congress, for he was vociferous against the Central Government’s decision on the three farm laws, that has been witnessing strong protests across the country.
He was in the lead of organising the protests in this part of the State.
A native of Chikkabagewadi, Patil started as a leader of Cooperative movement in the region and emerged as one of the strong farmer leaders.
He also held a record of winning both Kittur and Dharwad rural seats in the Assembly elections of 1980. However, he later vacated the rural seat to facilitate the election of Prof M D Nanjundaswamy another tall leader of farmers. Both had contested as Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) candidates.
With the death of Patil, farmers movement is sure to suffer a jolt in the country, especially in Belagavi region.
– Team Mysoorunews
Mysooru News
