JOIN USCong likely to rope in JD(S) leader to contest in Nanjangud bypoll
In a bid to save the face of Congress at his home turf, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is planning to rope in JD(S) man Kalale N Keshavamurthy to contest on the party ticket against former minister V Srinivas Prasad in Nanjangud by-election.
The opposition BJP has already ridiculed the Congress for struggling to find a suitable candidate, within the party ranks, to pit against the old war horse Prasad. Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy had also alleged that the Congress, which had no candidate for the Nanjangud election, was trying to hijack a JD(S) leader.
Keshavamurthy is an active member of the Janata parivar since 35 years, and has risen from the grassroots. He is a first cousin of Chamarajanagar MP R Dhruvanarayan of the Congress. Nanjangud Assembly constituency comes under Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha constituency, even though it is in Mysuru district. He is a bachelor and resides in Nanjangud town. He mingles freely with party workers and also the general public.
Since Nanjangud Assembly constituency was reserved for Scheduled Castes in the 2008 elections, he had contested on the JD(S) ticket. While he came a third in the 2008 election after V Srinivas Prasad of the Congress and S Mahadevaiah of the BJP, he emerged second in the 2013 election polling 41,843 votes against the winner, V Srinivas Prasad, who secured 50,784 votes. It has to be mentioned that Keshavamurthy had canvassed in favour of the Congress candidates in the recently concluded APMC election.
Cong bastion
Nanjangud Assembly constituency has been a Congress bastion since Independence with the various forms of Congress, including the Indira Congress, winning the elections nine times. In 1967 Independent L Srikantaiah had represented the constituency, while D T Jayakumar won in 1985 (Janata party), in 1994 (Janata Dal) and in 2004 [JD(S)].
Now, Prasad, who has abandoned the Congress and is in the BJP fold. The by-election has been facilitated due to his resignation. District in-charge Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa, who was in search of a constituency for his son Sunil Bose, had become active in the constituency and has toured it extensively, doling out various government schemes and projects to the villages.
He is from the neighbouring T Narsipur constituency. However, since the arrest of senior engineers S C Jayachandra and T N Chikkarayappa by the CBI, the candidature of Sunil Bose, already an accused in a bribery case in connection with a sand extraction case, has become uncertain.
So, the Congress is looking for a suitable candidate. The list of aspirants in the Congress is long with former Taluk Panchayat president Nagesh Raj, former MP Siddaraju, Kagalavadi Shivanna, CADA former chairman Devanuru Shivamallu, and musician Madan Patel. However, it is learnt that the reports, including that of the Intelligence department, hint at Keshavamurthy as a strong candidate against Prasad.
Speaking to DH, Keshavamurthy said, no leader of the Congress has contacted him. “I have worked with Siddaramaiah since almost three decades. He is the one who nominated me as the party taluk unit president once. But, since he became chief minister, I have not met him. I will convene a meeting of my supporters once the calender of events for the election is announced to take a decision on the future course of action,” he said.
Even though JD(S) supremo, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda had said that the regional party cannot afford to contest the by-election and had left it to the national parties to fight, both Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy would be happy to see Siddaramaiah humiliated in his home district. So, obviously, they would support Prasad.
Hence, the induction of Keshavamurthy into the Congress will be beneficial to him only if his candidature in the 2018 election is assured.