Munirathna rides on popularity, helps lotus bloom in RR Nagar

Winning the bypoll to Rajarajeshwari Assembly constituency, BJP’s Munirathna Naidu has achieved a hat-trick victory in what is seen as a Vokkaliga bastion.

Returning with a huge margin of 57,936 votes, Munirathna not only helped the ruling BJP win the seat, but also pipped the powerful ‘DK brothers’ in their own backyard.

Munirathna faced allegations of cash for votes and distribution of freebies, but that did not come in the way of his victory.

Determined to teach Munirathna a lesson for quitting the Congress and joining the BJP, the DK brothers campaigned across the RR Nagar constituency and tried to consolidate the majority Vokkaliga votes. However, Munirathna, with his clever moves, ensured that their plans failed.

Top BJP leaders were successful in ironing out the differences among the party leaders and preparing the grassroots-level workers to work in cohesion.

Though a section of the BJP leaders who had approached the court against Munirathna refused to reconcile with him, his personal image coupled with the booth-level workers’ hard work ensured that the lotus bloomed in the constituency.

The Congress played the emotional card, by fielding H Kusuma, wife of late IAS officer D K Ravi.

With RR Nagar being part of his Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha seat, D K Suresh led the campaign with his brother, KPCC chief D K Shivakumar. But the party lacked a strong base at the booth level as several workers had joined BJP along with Munirathna.

Kusuma appeared to be no match to Munirathna’s popularity. He maintained lead right from the first round of the counting of votes.

The JD(S), which had secured 60,000 votes in 2018, could only get around 10,000 votes this time.

After the win, Munirathna said, “Previously I had won with a margin of 17,000 and 26,000 votes. But today, they have elected me with a margin of 57,000 votes. I won’t be able to repay this debt to the voters. But I will do justice to the constituency and work towards its development.”

Defection of leaders of other parties to the BJP and distribution of ration kits to the needy during the Covid lockdown helped Munirathna in large measure.