In Mulbagal, Congress rebels may help the Independent

In Mulbagal Assembly constituency, rebellion in the Congress seems to help the Independents as well as the JD(S) in which waves of revolt have subsided.

Meanwhile, the BJP seems to have lost enthusiasm to strengthen its base in the region. It will be a direct contest between candidates of the Congress, the JD(S) and an Independent candidate backed by the Cong rebels.

As many as 22 candidates are contesting from the constituency that is reserved for the Scheduled Caste. Of the 22 candidates, 10 are fielded by various parties and 12 are Independents.

In poll fray

The candidates in Mulbagal constituency for the upcoming elections are: Amaresh (Congress); M N Ambareesh (CPI); M Munianjappa (JD-S); Y Srinivasan Patapat (BJP); P Chandrappa (Samajwadi Janata Party); C K Jagadish (BSR Congress); Doddachowdappa (KJP); C Ramakrishnaiah (RPI); Ranjith Kumar (Sarvodaya Karnataka Party); H A Lakshmaiah (JD-U).

V Adinarayana, G Alanguru Ramanna, Chalapati, V Nagaraju, T V Balakrishna, V Marappa, G Manjunath, G Venkataravana; D Venkataramappa, T M Shivanna, N Srinivas and V Srinivas are contesting as Independents.

The Independents are majority even in the Town Municipal Council. Of the total 27 seats, the Independents are 11, equal in number to the JD(S), the Congress, 4 and BJP one.  Of the total five Zilla Panchayat seats from the constituency, JD(S) has three, Congress and Independent one each.

Setback possible

Sources say that the Congress may suffer the setback for fielding Amaresh for the second time, though he is convicted in a land-grab case. The rebellion in the Congress is attributed to the same reason.

Besides, the party workers alleged that Amaresh, when he was legislator, neglected them. However, Union Minister Muniyappa has come to the Cong candidate’s rescue, though after much delay. His participation in the campaigns may help to some extent.

The JD(S) witnessed an upheaval when it denied the ticket to Adinarayana and fielded N Munianjappa. Several JD(S) leaders also were in support of Adinarayana.

But, the rebellion was quelled after the party Supremo, H D Deve Gowda’s visit. Now, the leaders, including Adinarayana, have decided to support Munianjappa.

Party quit

However, G Manjunath, who was disappointed by the Congress, has decided to contest as an Independent. Known for his largesse, Manjunath may eat into the votes of both the JD(S) and the Congress.

Former minister Alanguru Srinivas hopes that the public mandate may tilt towards him due to the corruption charges against Amaresh and political inexperience of Manjunath.

Amaresh had defeated Munianjappa in the last elections only with a thin margin of 1,828.
Amaresh, who has a disadvantage when it comes to votes of his community members who are not in majority, is chanting creed of ‘development’ while Munianjappa is banking on community votes.

Manjunath’s claim of belonging to Budgajangama has been controversial and he has relied more on his social works than caste factor to woo voters. There are rumours that the unhappy members of the Congress and the JD(S) are likely to support Manjunath, but tacitly.