Belagavi: Senior Congress leader and four-time Belagavi MP Shanmukhappa Basappa Sidnal passed away on Tuesday morning in a hospital. He was 85.

He leaves behind his wife, two sons, one daughter and a host of relatives and friends. Last rites were held at Sidnal Farms in Sanikoppa village at Bailhongal in Belagavi today.

Sidnal, a lawyer by profession, had first unsuccessfully contested from Kittur Assembly Constituency in 1972. Later, he was elected as the President of State Bar Association in 1979. The following year, contesting on a Congress ticket, Sidnal won from Belagavi (then Belgaum) Lok Sabha seat. He went on to win three consecutive elections from the seat. 

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and other senior politicians have condoled Sidnal’s death.