Four-time MLA Hanume Gowda dies

Hassan: Former Minister K.H. Hanume Gowda passed away at a hospital in Hassan on Sunday evening, owing to age-related health problems. He was 87 years old and is survived by two sons and two daughters. Gowda was a four-time MLA from Hassan and was Minister for Command Area Development Authority for a brief period in the Veerappa Moily government.

He was elected to the State Assembly in 1972 through a National Congress (Organisation) ticket, and was re-elected in 1978. He contested from Hassan again in the year 1989 from the Congress party. He joined the BJP in 1996 and won an Assembly seat in 1999. But later, he left the BJP as well and contested from Hassan in 2008 as a representative of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and eventually lost. He supported Congress candidate H.K. Mahesh in the 2013 Assembly elections. But in recent times, he kept himself away from public affairs due to his failing health.