Narsingrao Suryawanshi

Narsingrao Suryawanshi was born in Dongaon village of Aurad taluk in Bidar District. Suryawanshi and his brothers and sisters are children of Agriculturists. His father was of unusually enterprising spirit and managed to educate his children. He completed his education and obtained a B.Sc. degree at Marathwada University, Aurangabad (Maharashtra). He graduated in 1974 and became a social worker. He married Sushila Suryawanshi and the couple have three sons Sanjay, Vijay, Ajay, one daughter Indira', a daughter-in-law Priyanka and a grand son Ayush.

Narsingrao Suryawanshi had applied for the Congress ticket in the year 1980 by post and the party ticket came to him through senior leaders when he was in his native village Dongaon in Aurad taluk, Bidar. He fought the first election in 1980 and won with a huge margin of 1.05 lakh votes (total votes 1,58,817) against Shankar Dev of JNP party who was the runner up (53,409 votes).

Suryawanshi then stood for 1984 elections and defeated Rajendra Verma of BJP party with 59,615 votes (total votes 1,79,836) And for the third Consecutive time, he won the 1989 elections with a margin of 38,947 votes (total votes being 1,77,828) against Prabhudev Kalmath IND.

Suryawanshi contested as a Congress candidate in 2004 general elections but was defeated by Ramachandra Veerappa by a margin of 23,539 votes. Total votes obtained by Suryawanshi being 2,89,217. In the same year Ramachandra Veerappa died and a by election was held in which Veerappa's son Basawraj Veerappa stood against Suryawanshi and lost by 13,470 votes making Narsingrao Suryawanshi a winner for the 4th term.

Only four candidates have represented Bidar Lok Sabha constituency though elections have been held for 13 times since 1962. The candidates who represented Bidar Lok Sabha constituency since 1962 till 2009 were Ramachandra Veerappa, Shankar Dev, Narasingrao Suryawanshi and Dharam Singh. Bidar holds a distinct record of having elected both the youngest and the oldest Member of Parliament when it was a reserved constituency. The youngest being Suryawanshi and oldest being Veerappa.

Narsingrao Suryawanshi has a major contribution towards railway line. He had appealed to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to release additional funds to complete work on the Bidar-Gulbarga railway line in a time-bound manner. In a memorandum submitted to Dr. Singh, Suryawanshi and the District Congress Committee president, Basavaraj Bulla, said that Bidar is not connected to Bangalore and other districts of the State because of lack of railway links. Trains from Bangalore have to pass through Andhra to reach Bidar. Completion of the Bidar-Gulbarga line will not only ensure more direct and faster trains to carry passengers but also goods between south, north and north-east Karnataka.

Before 1980, when Narsingrao Suryawanshi graduated, he had become a Social worker advising and uplifting betterment of workers and agricultural labourers. He went around the villages educating people about 'No Dowry' system and also removal of untouchability which was a major concern in that year. He started Jawahar Lal Nehru Polytechnic College at Kushnoor, District Bidar, Karnataka and also opened a Hostel for poor students. He started Lal Bahadur Shastri Primary School, Mudhol, Taluk Aurad, District Bidar. He became the president of Rastirya Rachnatmak Samitee,Bidar and Arunodaya Education Society, Bidar.

• 1980: Elected as a Member of Parliament to the 7th Lok Sabha Congress (1st term)
• 1984: Re-elected as a Member of Parliament to 8th Lok Sabha Congress (2nd term)
• 1982-84: Member, Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
• 1985-87: Member, Consultative Committee, Ministries of Industry, Commerce and Petroleum
• 1988-89: Member, Business Advisory Committee
• 1989: Re-elected as a Member of Parliament to 9th Lok Sabha Congress (3rd term)
• 1990: Member of Parliament along with member, Committee on Official Language and Consultative Committee, Ministry of Railways
• 2004: Re-elected as a Member of Parliament to 14th Lok Sabha Congress (4th term)

       Also a Member, Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers and Consultative Committee, Ministry of Finance

• 2007 5 Aug. on-wards Member, Committee on Chemicals & Fertilizers
• 2007 7 Aug. on-wards Member, Committee on MPLADS

• bidar/article333577.ece

• Members of Fourteenth Lok Sabha - Parliament of India website