Nidemane Somana (15 April 1905 – 25 January 1958) was an Indian politician and lawyer. He was an

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

leader in

Coorg State Coorg State was a Part-C state in India which existed from 1950 to 1956. When the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, most of the existing provinces were reconstituted into states. Thus, Coorg Province became Coorg State. ...

and served as the Member of Parliament for the state in the first legislature after the independence of India.

Personal life

Born in

Bhagamandala Bhagamandala is a pilgrimage place in Kodagu district of the Indian state of Karnataka. Location Bhagamandala is situated on the river Kaveri in its upstream stretches. At this place, the Kaveri is joined by two tributaries, the Kannike and ...

on 15 April 1905, N. Somana was the son of N. Ramapa, a civil servant.Lok Sabha.
Members Bioprofile: SOMANA, SHRI N.
' He belonged to the Gowdugal community. He was schooled at Central High School in

Mercara Madikeri is a hill station town in Madikeri taluk and headquarters of Kodagu district in Karnataka, India. Etymology Madikeri was known as ''Muddu Raja Keri'', which meant Mudduraja's town, was named after the prominent Haleri king Muddu ...

, later studying at St. Aloysius College in

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

and

Madras Law College Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, commonly known by its former name Madras Law College, is a law school, located in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. It is also referred to as Government Law College or GLC, Chennai. It was established in ...

. He married Subbamma in 1927, the couple had nine children (four sons and five daughters). He obtained his Bachelor of Law degree in 1930. He also obtaining a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree.

Independence struggle

N. Somana joined the

after graduating from Law College. He supported the

khadi Khadi (, ), derived from khaddar, is a hand-spun and woven natural fibre cloth promoted by Mahatma Gandhi as ''swadeshi'' (self-sufficiency) for the freedom struggle of the Indian subcontinent, and the term is used throughout India, Pakistan ...

movement. He took part in the protests against the Simon Commission. He went underground during the 1942 Quit India movement to escape arrest. He held the post as Vice President of the Coorg District Congress Committee, which worked under the Mysore Pradesh Congress Committee at the time.

Coorg legislator

N. Somana served as member of the Coorg Legislative Council from 1945 until the dissolution of Coorg State. In the Legislative Council, N. Somana was a member of the Finance Committee. He served as member of the Committee for the Five-Year Plan for the uplift of Harijans. In 1947 he became a member of the Karnataka University Committee, appointed by the Government of Bombay to represent Coorg in the Committee. He served as Vice President of the Coorg District Board until 1951. N. Somana was one of ten Coorg politicians invited by

Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...

in 1949 for discussions on the future of the state. Shri Nidyamale Somanna

Parliamentarian

N. Somana was elected to the

1st Lok Sabha The First Lok Sabha was constituted on 17 April 1952 after India's first general election. The 1st Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957. The First Session of this Lok Sabha commenced on 13 May 1952. ...

(lower house of the

parliament of India The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

) in the

1952 Indian general election Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 '' Ab urbe con ...

, representing Coorg. He obtained 38,063 votes (59.65%), defeating independent candidate K.T. Uthappa (former Assistant Commissioner of Coorg, a rich planter and stern supporter of retaining a separate Coorg state) for the sole seat of Coorg State in the Lok Sabha.Election Commission of India.
STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1951 TO THE FIRST LOK SABHA – VOLUME I (NATIONAL AND STATE ABSTRACTS & DETAILED RESULTS)
' In parliament he became a member of the Committee on Home Affairs and the Committee on Planning and Communications. He was a member of the Indian Coffee Board, but resigned in 1957.

Mysore State legislator

After the merger of Coorg into

Mysore State Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later India, Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's c ...

, N. Somana was elected to the Mysore State Legislative Assembly in the 1957 election. He stood as the Indian National Congress candidate in the Periyapatna constituency. N. Somana obtained 19,714 votes (68.08%). N. Somana died from a heart attack on 25 January 1958 in Mercara. After his death a by-election for the Periyapatna seat was held, won by Indian National Congress candidate K.M. Devayya. N. Somana is one of only two politicians from Kodagu district (Coorg) to have been elected to the Lok Sabha, the other politician being former Coorg State Chief Minister C.M. Poonacha, who got elected from

Mangalore Lok Sabha constituency Mangalore Lok Sabha constituency was one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka state in southern India. With the implementation of the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies in 2008, based on the recommendations of the Delimitation ...

in 1967, when Kodagu district was under

References

{{reflist 1905 births 1958 deaths India MPs 1952–1957 Indian National Congress politicians from Karnataka Lok Sabha members from Coorg People from Kodagu district 20th-century Indian lawyers Mysore MLAs 1957–1962