Council bypoll: Parties on preparatory mode

Congress wants to woo Lingayats, BJP for a truck with JD(S), KJP

Following the declaration of by-elections to the Legislative Council from Mysore-Chamarajanagar districts local bodies on August 22, prominent political parties in both the districts have launched the exercise to win the polls at any cost.

Sources told Deccan Herald that Congress that is riding high on the wave of the thumping victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections is leaving no stone unturned to wrest the seat earlier held by the BJP.

The saffron party is mulling over cosying up to JD(S) and B S Yeddyurappa’s KJP for a truck, with an MLC of the party (JDS) already representing the seat from the district.

In the elections held in the year 2009, Sandesh Nagaraj of JD(S) and K R Mallikarjunappa from BJP had been elected from the afore mentioned seat. The incumbent MLC and Congress nominee N Manjunath had to be content for the third slot.  

The scenario this time has changed especially for the Congress having a tall leader from the district Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister. Though there is a demand again to consider Manjunath for the candidature, there is no dearth of other aspirants.

It includes former Chamarajanagar MLA C Guruswamy, former chairperson of Mylac Mallige Veeresh and president of Sahukar Channaiah Block Congress unit G N Manjunath, all lingayats, president of Mysore District Congress Committee, rural unit, R Dharmasena, city Congress leader S Shankar and Prof H Govindaiah, all Dalits.

Buzz is that, with two prominent Dalit leaders V Sreenivas Prasad and H C Mahadevappa from the district getting due representation in the State cabinet, besides having Chamarajanagar MP R Dhruvanarayan from the same community, the party is mulling over wooing lingayats in view of the coming Parliamentary elections in 2014. In addition to that, the party wants to tread cautiously in the two districts considered as Veerashaiva belt.

Among the names doing rounds, Govindaiah belongs to the coterie of Siddaramaiah right from their earlier days, one reason that cannot be ignored by others. Guruswamy also the former president of Chamarajanagar district Congress Committee is in the good books of both Sreenivas Prasad and Cooperation Minister H S Mahadeva Prasad.

At BJP, the names of newly elected general secretary of BJP city unit Yashaswini
Somashekar, a Vokkaliga and Kashi Vishwanath Shetty, a lingayat is on the leaders mind. It wouldn’t be a surprise, if K R Mallikarjunappa emerges as a consensus nominee (BJP, JD(S) and KJP), but only after overtaking Ka Pu Siddalingaswamy who also has an eye on the polls, said a leader of the party preferring anonymity.

There are a total of 4,704 elected representatives voters in Mysore district and 2,283 in Chamarajanagar, comprising GPs, TPs, ZPs and other local bodies.

By-polls is necessitated following the resignation of Mallikarjunappa ahead of the recently concluded Assembly elections. He unsuccessfully contested the elections as KJP candidate from Chamarajanagar.