Mysuru, Apr 16 : The arch foes turned coalition partners in Karnataka ? Congress and Janata Dal (S), who have forged a pre-poll alliance for the first time in the State’s electoral history face a stern test in the five Lok Sabha seats of Old Mysore region for which the polling will be held in the first phase on April 18.
Despite hiccups when some Congress party workers and leaders refused to campaign in support of Janata Dal (S) candidates until Congress State and central leadership intervened. But the mistrust is refusing to die causing anxiety among the candidates as well as the State and central leaders.
Prominent among those who are contesting in this election from coalition parties if former Prime Minister H D Devegowda (Tumakuru) and his grandsons Prajwal Revanna (Hassan) and Nikhil K (Mandya). While Prajwal is the son of PWD Minister H D Revanna, Nikhil is the son of chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, the two sons of Devegowda.
The other two seats are Mysuru and Chamarajanagara segments.
Which the ruling coalition giving final touches to seeking voters in the region retain the four seats, countdown began the end of public campaigning today.
Both third generation Devegowda family candidates are facing tough task against A Manju the BJP candidate in Hassan and actor Sumalatha, an independent candidate supported by the BJP in Mandya.
In the other two seats in the region, Congress has fielded C H Vijyashankar in Mysuru while R Dhruvanarayana is contesting from Chamarajanagara. Both are fighting against BJP sitting member Pratap Simha and former union minister V Sreenivasa Prasad.
The high voltage election campaign in this region with BJP bringing in prime minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the a hugely successful rally in Mysuru, and state leaders former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and others are on the campaign in these parts.
Congress party has roped in the AICC President Rahul Gandhi who addressed the joint rally at K R Nagara, Devegowda along with Congress leaders including former chief minister Siddaramiah campaigned jointly in all the five constituencies .
Meanwhile, chief minister H D Kumraswamy, who has taken the elections seriously as the fate of his son is involved and any loss in Mandya may ultimately destabilise the State government itself made several rounds of the campaign in Mandya alone.
JDS even brought Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandra Babu Nadu who campaigned for the Nikhil yesterday.
JD-S sources told UNI that despite reluctance on part of some Congress leaders and workers in Mandya and Hassan, the party had made all efforts to ensure victory of its candidates using its cadre.
”As we are sharing power in the state, a pre-poll alliance to jointly contest the Lok Sabha polls will prevent division of votes in a straight fight with the BJP, unlike in a triangular contest that benefits our rival party (BJP),” a JD(S) leader said.
Deve Gowda himself is contesting from Tumkur, and not his old constituency Hassan, from where he won for record six times since 1991.
While Prajwal is expected to sail through from the Gowda family turf of Hassan, his cousin Nikhil is facing a tough fight from multilingual actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of later actor-turned politician M H Ambareesh.
The saffron party has stayed away from a direct fight in these elections, owning to its weak presence in Mandya.
Though 29-year-old Nikhil is betting on the support of his politically-dominant Vokkaliga community and the party’s legislators who won from all the eight Assembly segments in the constituency in the May 2018 elections, 55-year-old Sumalatha is no pushover. She is betting on the popularity of her late husband, a native of Mandya, who won the seat thrice, twice on Congress and once on JD-S ticket.
Ambareesh, a legislator from the Mandya Assembly seat and a minister in the Congress government (2013-2016), died on November 24, 2018 in Bengaluru at the age of 66, generating a massive sympathy wave for Sumalatha from his legion of fans.
Though the alliance partners have agreed to campaign together for joint candidates in all 28 seats, the district Congress leaders and cadres in Mandya, however, refused to join their JD-S counterparts to seek votes for Nikhil due to simmering discontent.
The rivalry between the two parties is so intense that even in Hassan, Congress members are not campaigning for Prajwal who faces A. Manju, a former Congress Minister who joined the BJP recently.
In retaliation, the JD-S workers have refused to campaign for Congress candidate Vijayashankar in Mysore. However, with the intervention of the former chief minister Siddaramiah and district incharge minister G T Deve Gowda, they begun their joint campaign which has eased the tension to some extend.
In Chamarajanagara, the campaign by both the parties are based on road shows and rallies, besides they are reaching out the voters directly in door-to door visits.
During the last 2014 elections JD-S has won Hassan and Mandya, BJP in Mysuru and Congress had won in Chamarajanagara and Tumakuru.
