Manohar Yadavatti in Tumakuru
Thanks to the dissident activities and vocal outbursts of disgruntled leaders the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to be on a sticky wicket in Tumakuru district while the fears of these factors upsetting the party table may not be ruled out unless the party resolves to attend them immediately.
In fact the situation is no better in the ruling Congress and the Janata Dal Secular either. The cold war within the leaders of the ruling party is no better although they try to brave a united face in public. DR.G.Parameshwar,KPCC president who had surrendered to a total novice in the form of Sudhakarlal in the Koratagere reserve constituency looks to be optimistic this time although he continues to face the same old problems.
Now the reasons responsible for his defeat are no more a public secret and it’s an acknowledged fact to all those curious in state politics. TB Jayachandra is the district in charge minister who is well known for sharpening his cudgels clandestinely against the PCC president in the manner Siddaramaiah played his cards in the previous general elections.
As a result the poor KPCC president who tirelessly toured the state incessantly and contributed his mite for romping back the party to the corridors of power had to cut a sorry face after being drubbed in his home constituency forget dreaming to become a chieftain of the Congress government.
In the changed situation the ruling party organized a huge rally at Koratagere some time back wherein the chief minister claimed that Parameshwar is bound to emerge victorious. He made these tall claims before the mammoth meeting whilst all those present in the front rows were busy looking at each other and smiling mischievously!
Kyatasandra R Rajanna is the sitting Congress MLA in the adjoining Madhugiri constituency and enjoys no better relations with the KPCC president. Nayaks the scheduled tribe people also have a major say in Koratagere to which Rajanna belongs to.
Likewise along with scheduled castes people belonging to Siddaramaiah’s Kuruba community are also significant in number. Sudhakarlal like the other six JDS MLAs’ are said to be facing anti incumbency factor which may be of advantage to Dr.Parameshwar.
Tumakuru district consists of the following eleven constituencies: Tumakuru city, Tumakuru Rural, Chikkanayakanahalli, Gubbi, Koratagere, Madhugiri, Tiptur, Turuvekere, Sira, Kunigal and Pavagada.
Probably it’s worthwhile recalling the votes polled by BS Yeddyurappa’s KJP candidates during the previous general elections to have an understanding about the damage done then and how the same may be of great help to the BJP this time. Here is the list of constituencies and the vote share of prominent candidates:Tumakuru City-S.Rafiq Ahmed (Congress)-43,681GB Jyothi Ganesh(KJP)-40,073N Govindaraju(JDS)-38,322Here BJP’s Sogadu Shivanna came fourth.
Tumakuru Rural-B.Sureshgowda(BJP)-55,029Gowrishankar DC(JDS)-53,457H Ningappa(KJP)-22,709 Sira-TB Jayachandra(Congress)-74,089B Satyanarayana(JDS)-59,408 Kunigal-D.Nagarajaiah (Janata Dal Secular)-44,575D.Krishnakumar(BJP)-34,943 Pavagada (SC)-KM Timmarayappa(Janata Dal Secular)-68,686Venkatesh HV(Congress)-63,823 Madhugiri-KN Rajanna(Congress)-75,086M Veerbhadraiah(JDS)-60,659 Gubbi-SR Srinivas(Janata Dal Secular)-58,783GN Bettaswamy(KJP)-51,539Honnagirigowda(Congress)-18,548 Koratagere (SC)-Sudhakarlal(Janata Dal Secular)-72,229Dr.G.Parameshwar(Congress)-54,074Chandraiah(Vale)KJP-15,738 Turuvekere-MT Krishnappa(Janata Dal Secular)-66,089Masale Jayaram(KJP)-57,164Geetha Rajanna(Congress)-7,513 Tiptur-K Shadakshari(Congress)-56,817BC Nagesh(BJP)-45,215Lokeshwar(KJP)-28,667 Chikkanayakanahalli-Sureshbabu (Janata Dal Secular)-60,759KS Kirankumar(BJP)-29,150
In this way there were six JDS MLAs’, four Congress legislators and one BJP representative in the outgoing Assembly. But the interesting factor that evokes significance is the combined total of BJP and KJP votes polled last time. If at all it’s a repeat performance of the same polling pattern this time again observers feel that BJP can easily win in all the constituencies but for Koratagere,Madhugiri,Sira and Pavagada.
The reason for such observation is that the fight in these four constituencies is mainly between the Indian National Congress and the Janata Dal Secular wherein the BJP is yet to make a footmark in terms of garnering substantial vote share to become a formidable rival much before becoming a winner.
The prospects of BJP look better this time as the splinter group KJP is back again with the main BJP party fold. But that alone cannot be a reason for solace as some party loyalists like Sogadu Shivanna,former minister,Kirankumar and Manjunath who received a severe drubbing due the huge vote share of KJP are still nursing their wounds.
So party insiders admit in private that unless these people are taken into confidence and are pacified with some concrete assurances that sooner or later they will be taken care of the danger they may manage cannot be ruled out.
The situation is no better with all six sitting Janata Dal Secular MLAs’ as according to B.Sureshgowda,Tumakuru Rural BJP MLA:All these people are facing anti incumbency factor against them more than the ruling party which already is down with the same. So under such circumstances BJP is bound to be the natural beneficiary in the process.
Well said it may appear but the big challenge now is as to who’ll bell the cat of dissidence. The journalist turned politician Sogadu Shivanna and state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa’s utterances and behavior in public is nothing less than sworn enemies for life. The former still continues to remain Editor of Sogadu Kannada daily.
For the Janata Dal Secular legislators it’s more the charisma of father and son HD Devegowda and HD Kumaraswamy along with the strong presence of Vokkaliga voters in many of the constituencies.
It’s also being rumored now that the pontiff of the all powerful Adichunchanagiri Mutt among the Vokkaliga community has called upon the community voters to elect Janata Dal Secular candidates and not the BJP.
But not all in the community are found to pay heed for such ‘clarion calls’.B.Sureshgowda,Tumakuru Rural BJP MLA who himself is a Vokkaliga tries to underplay the effect :These days people more so the youths are much ahead than the traditional minds. They discuss so many things openly on social networking sites which couldn’t have even been thought of a few years back. All such calls may not mean much in reality.
At the same time he candidly admits: Yes there are about 40 percent of people among the Vokkaliga community who still believe that only HD Devegowda and HD Kumarswamy can strive for the wellbeing of the community. May be people of such mindset may continue to vote for the Janata Dal Secular irrespective of the candidate or the prevailing circumstances thereupon.
Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti
