Shamnur Shivashankarappa is Karnataka's leading education baron. He has over 52 institutions under the Bapuji title worth several hundred crores of rupees in Karnataka's Davangere district. The clout is translated into winning the election, last time from this region. In turn, Shivashankarappa has used his political connections to the hilt, to expand his education empire into liquor, rice mills and even making power from the waste of sugarcane.