B Narayan Rao: A fighter who battled till the very last

BENGALURU: When Congress MLA B Narayan Rao (65) became critically ill with multi-organ failure, it marked a ‘last battle’ for this born fighter who battled at every step of his life. The MLA, who was undergoing treatment for coronavirus, passed away on Thursday. His close friend, MLA Bandeppa Kashempur, said, “I am going to Basavakalyan to participate in the last rites at 12 noon on Friday. He will be laid to rest with full state honours, as ordered by the CM.’’

A hearse van carrying the remains of Narayana Rao left Manipal Hospitals, followed by grieving relatives and friends, is expected to reach Bidar on Friday morning. Narayana Rao, who belonged to the backward fishermen community, was an admirer of 12th century social reformer Basavanna. Though he was not a Lingayat and wanted to recreate the Anubhava Mantapa (spiritual Parliament started by Basavanna) in Basavakalyan, he battled hard and had many meetings with the decision makers, former CMs Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy, Congress working president Eshwar Khandre said. He got an in-principle ‘yes’ from the CM and even received a `100 crore contribution out of the total estimate of `500 crore.

He will be remembered as the man who had hosted then CM H D Kumaraswamy during his ‘last village visit’ to Ujilam, which sits on the state border with Maharashtra. After this visit, Kumaraswamy left for the US, and his 14-month-old government collapsed thereafter. Rao, who was with the Janata Parivar in the 1970s, maintained very good relations with the Janata Dal (Secular) and he spoke passionately during the ‘trust vote’ in July 2019.

He started out as an ordinary party worker and served as ZP member and served for two terms as chairman of boards and corporations. He lost two assembly elections previously but never gave up hope and won in 2018. The funeral will be attended by Eshwar Khandre, Bandeppa Kashempur, MLA Rajshekar Patil Humnabad, MLC Vijay Singh and MLA UT Khader.