With just eight days left for the bypolls to three assembly constituencies, campaigning is picking up, even as the World Cup fever rages.
With just eight days left for the bypolls to three assembly constituencies, campaigning is picking up, even as the World Cup fever rages. The by-elections are scheduled on April 9 and the last day for campaigning is April 7. On Thursday, leaders of all three major political parties were busy campaigning for party candidates.
Former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda campaigned in Channapatna for party candidate Sim Lim Nagaraj. He went around Bevur panchayat limits, and sought the people’s blessings. Home minister R Ashoka hit the campaign trail, urging voters to cast their votes in favour of the BJP in Channapatna, where two-time MLA CP Yogeshwar is the party candidate.
At Bangarpet, former chief minister and JD(S) state president HD Kumarswamy was in campaign mode. In Jagalur, former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president RV Deshpande campaigned for candidate Devendrappa.
Channapatna: BJP vs JD(S)
In ‘toys town’ Channapatna, the BJP candidate CP Yogeshwar and JD(S) candidate Sim Lim Nagaraj appear almost evenly matched. The constituency is known as a ‘JD(S) fortress’, but the ruling BJP is trying all it can to capture power here. Nagaraj is known for his simplicity; what is interesting is that there are public campaigns for donations towards Nagaraj’s election expenses.
Congress candidate Raghunandan Ramanna is, however, a new face in politics.
Though he has a strong backup, he does not have a local connect, as he has been living in the US for many years, working as a software engineer. Preliminary reports indicate that Ramanna is a distant third in the contest here.
Bangarpet: Triangle fight
In Bangarpet there is a triangular contest between the Congress, BJP and JD(S). Congress has fielded KM Narayanswamy as its candidate, as he was very popular. The ruling BJP fielded AM Narayanswamy, who joined the party after quitting the Congress. He has community support. JD(S) candidate Venkateshappa is also considered a popular and strong candidate, so the fight here will be a close one.
Jagalur: BJP ahead
In Jagalur, the BJP is ahead of Congress and JD(S). But here, the BJP candidate faces heat from his fellow party man, Harish, who contested last time on a BJP ticket and lost. Harish has entered the fray this time, as a rebel. He thus threatens SV Ramachandra, who contested the last elections as a Congress candidate and won, only to later fall to Operation Lotus and join the BJP, whose candidate he is. In the last assembly elections, Harish had lost to SV Ramachandra, who was a Congress candidate, by a margin of just 2,000 votes.
Harish has public sympathy. SV Ramachandra has the strong support of the Lingayat community. However, even Congress candidate Devendrappa has much public support, and cannot be ruled out as a potential victor. JD(S) candidate H Manjunath is in the race, and is likely to serve the purpose of damaging BJP’s prospects by eating into their votes.
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