BJP inducts radiologist CM Rajesh Gowda ahead of Sira bypoll

The BJP on Saturday inducted radiologist Dr. CM Rajesh Gowda amid speculation that he will be the party’s candidate for the November 3 Sira bypoll.

Gowda is the son of Congress leader CP Mudalagiriyappa, who represented the Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituency under which the Sira assembly segment is located.

“I’ve joined the BJP as a loyal party worker and not as a ticket aspirant,” Gowda told reporters. “Whoever gets the ticket, I will work for the party,” he said, adding that he had not approached any other political party seeking the Sira bypoll ticket.

According to sources, the BJP core committee has recommended three names for the Sira ticket - BK Manjunath, SR Gowda, and Rajesh Gowda. Manjunath and SR Gowda were the BJP's candidates who contested unsuccessfully from Sira in the past. Rajesh Gowda is the founder-director at Matrix Imaging Solutions, where Congress leader Siddaramaiah’s son Dr. Yathindra was a director.

In 2016, Yathindra resigned as a director following controversy after the company won a tender floated by the state-run PMSSY Hospital when Siddaramaiah was in office. Yathindra was replaced by Gowda’s wife Tejaswini as a director.

Sira, located in Tumakuru district, has witnessed a direct fight between the JD(S) and the Congress thus far. The bypoll was necessitated following the death of JD(S) MLA B Sathyanarayana.

The BJP has deployed Deputy Chief Ministers Govind Karjol and CN Ashwath Narayan, party vice-president BY Vijayendra, general secretary N Ravikumar and Bangalore Central MP PC Mohan as in-charges for the Sira bypoll.

“The party’s organisation in Sira is better than what it was in KR Pet,” Vijayendra told DH. “The BJP had once polled nearly 25,000 votes here. We have leaders from all communities and we hope to encash our presence,” he said.

According to Ravikumar, the BJP has formed 264 booth-level committees and WhatsApp groups to mobilize support for the party in Sira. Speaking after inducting Gowda and other local Sira leaders, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said “hundreds” of Congress and JD(S) leaders were waiting to join the saffron party

. “The BJP will win the Sira and Rajarajeshwarinagar bypolls,” Kateel said. Chitradurga MP A Narayanaswamy said that a few Tumakuru Zilla Panchayat members would join the BJP soon.