K. Vasanth Bangera, former MLA from Belthangady for five terms, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
He was 78. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Mr. Bangera was being treated at the hospital for some time. His body will be brought to Belthangady on Thursday, May 9, for cremation, sources said.
A party-hopper, Mr. Bangera won five of the nine Assembly elections he contested from the Belthangady constituency in Dakshina Kannada by being in the BJP, Janata Dal, and Congress.
Mr. Bangera was among the 18 BJP candidates who got elected to the Karnataka Assembly for the first time in 1983. He was among the only two leaders who got re-elected to the Assembly from the BJP in 1985. The other one was B.S. Yediyurappa.
He was elected to the Assembly as the Janata Dal candidate in 1994. Later, he joined the Congress and won the 2008 and 2013 elections.
He lost his last and ninth election against K. Harish Poonja of the BJP in 2018.
Interestingly, Mr. Bangera faced his younger brother K. Prabhakara Bangera of the BJP in five of the nine elections.
Mr. Prabhakara Bangera defeated Mr. Vasanth Bangera in 1999 and 2004 elections. The senior Bangera contested these elections as the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate.
Mr. Vasanth Bangera defeated Mr. Prabhakara Bangera as the Janata Dal candidate in 1994 and as the Congress candidate in 2008.
Condolences
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar were among the many who condoled his death.
The Chief Minister said he had met Mr. Vasanth Bangera in the hospital while he was being treated and had hoped that he would get well soon.
“Bangera was sensitive to the needs of the backward classes. He had vacated his seat to enable new face Rakshit Shivaram to contest and had actively campaigned for him,” Mr. Shivakumar said in his condolence message.
