The fact that the Congress party is again banking on the battle-scarred veteran H C Srikantaiah to wrest Shravanabelagola from the JD(S), shows its desperation to win as many seats as possible to capture power at Vidhana Soudha.

Srikantaiah had gone into semi-retirement after losing narrowly by around 3,000 votes to Deve Gowda in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. But, after the death of Puttaswamy Gowda, Srikantaiah is considered the only remaining tall leader capable of taking on the Deve Gowda family in this Vokkaliga heartland and hence, the SOS call to him.

Having contested eight assembly and two parliament elections, Srikantaiah has seen both victory and defeat in equal measure. Being one of the longest serving Congress ministers, he has been an important member of the Cabinets - from the governments headed by Devraj Urs to S M Krishna.

Popularly known as “Anniah” (elder brother) in his constituency, Srikantaiah’s “last election” campaign has an old world charm about it. As he sets out to meet his familiar voters in Bagur hobli, he hardly has any paraphernalia with him. Considering the time constraint, his followers arrange important leaders from 7-8 villages to congregate at one place for the candidate to make his appeal.

Some demands for water and regular power supply are aired, and Srikantaiah assures them that they will be taken care of once the elections are over. “Have I not met your demands over the last 40 years? Now I need your support,” he says matter-of-factly.

Ask him why, being a contemporary of Deve Gowda, he could politically not rise to the same level as Gowda, Srikantaiah says it is all a matter of fate beyond his control. But he does point out that he has remained non-controversial, and twice defeated Gowda by huge margins, while losing twice - both narrowly.

Tough opponent

Srikantaiah is facing a tough opponent in C S Puttegowda of the JD(S), who is no political novice. He has won and lost against Srikantaiah alternatively in 1994 and 1999 and in 2004, took on Srikantaiah’s son Vijaykumar and won convincingly by 35,000 votes.

Still, Puttegowda’s nomination this time was by no means certain as Deve Gowda son-in-law Manjunath’s brother C N Balakrishna made a strong pitch for the ticket, and only at the last minute did Gowda turn it down.

Puttegowda is basing his campaign heavily on district-in-charge minister H D Revanna’s development works in the constituency, including a drinking water scheme and mini Vidhana Soudha for Chennarayapatna, establishment of 207 milk dairies which has helped hundreds of families, asphalting of roads and so on. He has also got sanction for a first grade college at Hirisave, Srikantaiah’s native town.

But the fight is not so much on the issue of development vs non-development, as in this Vokkaliga territory, it is always the clash of personalities which decides the outcome. Some sections view Revanna’s brazen politics as irksome and for them, voting against the JD(S) is like restoring “peace” in the constituency.

Given the nature of volatile politics here, the Shravanabelagola result will be consistent with the mood of the electorate elsewhere in the district.