Former Udupi MLA U.R. Sabhapathi passes away

Two-time Udupi MLA and senior Congress leader 71-year-old U.R. Sabhapathi passed away following brief illness in Udupi on Sunday. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Two-time Udupi MLA and senior Congress leader 71-year-old U.R. Sabhapathi passed away following brief illness in Udupi on Sunday. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

Born in 1952, Mr. Sabhapathi entered electoral politics at the age of 35 by getting elected to the Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat in 1987 from Udyavara. He was the president of standing committee on education in the Zilla Panchayat. Mr. Sabhapathi served as the president of Youth Congress’s Dakshina Kannada North Zone unit.

Mr. Sabhapathi quit Congress upon being denied ticket and contested as an Independent candidate against Congress’ Manorama Madhwaraj from Udupi Assembly constituency in 1989. He lost to Ms. Madhwaraj by a slim margin of 785 votes.

In 1994, Mr. Sabhapathi won from Udupi Assembly Constituency as the candidate from S. Bangarappa’s Karnataka Congress Party. He defeated Congress’s Manorama Madhwaraj by a margin of 4,818 votes. In 1999, he won as the Congress candidate by defeating BJP’s B. Sudhakara Shetty by a slender margin of 710 votes. Mr. Sabhapathi was defeated by BJP’s K. Raghupathi Bhat in 2004.

Condoling his death, the president of Udupi’s Yakshagana Kalaranga Murali Kadekar said Mr. Sabhapathi was actively involved in development of Kalaranga as its lifetime member. Udupi District Working Journalists Union president Rajesh Shetty Alevoor said it was during Mr. Sabhapathi’s term as MLA that the union was allotted space for the construction of a building in Brahmagiri Nayarkere in Udupi.