Karnataka: Former MLA and veteran politician AG Kodgi no more

UDUDPI: Former MLA Amasebail Gopalakrishna Kodgi, well known as A G Kodgi, died after a brief illness at a private hospital in Manipal on Monday. He was 93 years old. A G Kodgi, an ardent agriculturist and cooperative leader was the president of Amasebailu Charitable Trust.

He was elected as MLA twice and was the Chairman of the Third Finance Commission Implementation Task Force. He was the former president of Udupi district BJP and was also the former vice president of BJP Karnataka.

Son of freedom fighter Krishnaraya Kodgi and Rajamma, Kodgi was born in Manjarapalake of Karkala. He did his primary education in Shankaranarayana and completed high school in Kundapura. He completed BSc from the Central College Bengaluru in 1951, studied law from Pune in 1953 and was practicing in Bengaluru.

Kodgi, who began his political career as a Congressman, became MLA twice in 1972 and 1978. He joined the BJP in 1994 and served as the district president of the party from 1995 to 1999 before becoming the state vice president.

Through A G Kodgi’s leadership, Amasebail in Kundapur had become Karnataka’s first solar-powered gram panchayat with 1,497 houses receiving the solar lamps. As a director of the Karnataka Bank, he emphasized the extension of banking services to rural areas. He is survived by his wife and six children, including CAMPCO president A Kishore Kumar Kodgi and vice president of Karnataka State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Kiran Kodgi.

Sri Kshetra Dharmastala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade and leaders of various political parties expressed their condolences. CM Basavaraj Bommai in his condolence message recalled Kodgi’s contribution as an MLA from Byndoor.

He said youth got attracted to the BJP due to onerous effort by Kodgi. Sri Vishwaprasanna Theertha Swamiji of Sri Pejavar Matha, Udupi in his condolence message recalled Kodgi as a progressive farmer and said he had immense knowledge about rural empowerment.