Karnataka elections: Gadag Assembly constituency

The Gadag district has enriched the cultural fields of music, literature and art by producing famous and memorable personalities.

Gadag immediately brings to mind the name of Naranappa, popularly known as Kumara Vyasa, the author of Karnata Bharata Kathamanjari. It is the classic Mahabharata. Ganayogi Panchakshari Gawayi belonged to Gadag. His music school (Veereshwara Punyashrama) is famous. The Tontadarya Matha of the Veerashaiva sect of Hinduism is engaged in many educational and literary activities in and around Gadag.

There is a legend about Gadag that if you throw a stone in town it would either land at a printing press or on a handloom. The city has a lot of printing presses including the "Hombali Brothers and the Shabadi Math Printing Press. Betageri, which is an adjacent town to Gadag, is famous for handlooms.

Gadag has been an important seat of Hindustani music in north Karnataka and is home to the Hindustani singer Bharata Ratna awardee Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. The modern Kannada literature and a freedom fighter Shri Huilgol Narayan Rao, Pandit Puttaraj Gawai, one of Gem from Hindustani classical tradition and are well-known cricketer Sunil Joshi also hails from this city.The town has 11th- and 12th-century monuments; the temple of Veera Narayana and the Trikuteshwara complex are sites of religious and historic importance. One of the two main Jain temples is dedicated to Mahavira. It is also a tourist place wither greenery and being visited by many nature-lovers.

H K Patil of Congress is the sitting MLA and he won against Anil Prakashbabu Mensinkai with a margin of 33,727 votes."

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