Hubballi: One of the giant killers of Karnataka politics and Congress MLA from Jamkhandi, Siddu Nyamagouda died in a road accident Monday morning when his car hit a divider in Kaladgi village of Jamkhandi taluk at around 5 am.
The 68-year-old legislator was returning to Jamkhandi after arriving in Goa from Delhi. A popular farmer leader, he shot into the limelight by constructing a 'people's barrage' at Chikkapadasalagi in Jamkhandi with the help of farmers collecting funds under the umbrella of Krishna River Bank Farmers Association in 1990. Water supplied to the barrage from the Almatti backwaters, now irrigates more than 70,000 acres of agricultural land.
The half-km long barrage has turned the entire region into a sugarcane growing belt and was built at a cost of just Rs 89 lakh with monetary contributions ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 100 from each farmer.
At the height of his popularity, Nyamagouda defeated former CM late Ramakrishna Hegde in the Bagalkot Lok Sabha seat and was soon inducted into the Narasimha Rao Cabinet. The Bagalkot BJP unit called off the bandh on farm loan waiver as a mark of respect to the departed leader.
