Former Congress MP and KPCC working president R. Dhruvanarayana (62) passed away on Saturday morning following a heart attack.
The sudden demise of the prominent dalit leader shocked the party members who feel it is a major setback to the party that is bracing for a triangular fight in the Old Mysuru region in the upcoming Assembly polls.
A student leader associated with NSUI and later Youth Congress, Dhruvanarayana joined the Congress party in 1983 and was elected to the state Assembly twice - from Santhemarahalli (2004) and Kollegal (2008) and has represented Chamrajnagara parliamentary constituency twice - in 2009 and 2014.
In 1999, Dhruvanarayana debuted in electoral politics from Santhermarahalli Assembly constituency and lost. However, in 2004, he created history when he won the same seat by a single vote against JDS candidate B.R. Krishnamurthy.
In 2019, Dhruvanarayan lost the Chamrajnagara Parliament seat to his former colleague and Dalit leader V. Srinivasa Prasad, who had quit the Congress to contest on a BJP ticket.
A jolted Congress party called off the Praja Dhwani rally scheduled to be held in Ramanagara on Saturday.
Shivakumar, who paid tributes to the departed leader at the KPCC office in Bengaluru, expressed shock over the sudden demise of Dhruvanarayana who was also hoping to contest from the Nanjangud Assembly constituency.
"We are unable to comprehend this huge loss. He was actively campaigning for the party in Mysuru, Mandya and Hassan. The Praja Dhwani rally at Nanjangud was successfully lead by him. His active role in helping the people during Covid, and the Chamrajnagara oxygen scarcity can never be forgotten. During Rahul Gandh's Bharat Jodo yatra, it was Dhruvanarayana who suggested a Bharat Jodo road to be built in Badanavalu to connect the localities of two communities (Lingayat and Dalit) that were at loggerheads for decades in Nanjangud," recalled Shivakumar.
The last rites will be held at Heggavadi village in Chamrajnagara on Sunday.
