Manohar Yadavatti in Ramnagar
Ramnagar district is in the close proximity of the capital city of Bengaluru and if you are lucky enough to escape from the mad traffic, there’re chances that you may reach the district place within one and a half hours. But such timings could be rare one as almost on all days, the road further leading to the most sought after tourist place Mysuru is always crowded and traffic snarls and jams are literally an everyday feature.
Well other than these traffic hazards, Ramnagar on the face of it gives an impression as if it’s one more district just like the remaining ones in the prosperous Cauvery delta. Yes for name sake it happens to be another one district but only when you mix with the people and try to understand the ground reality your ears will become warm in no time!
The district has four constituencies namely Kanakpura, Ramnagar, Channapatna and Magadi and the region which was earlier part of Bengaluru Rural district came into being when HD Kumarswamy, Janata Dal Secular party’s state president happened to become the chief minister in alliance with the BJP after toppling his own party’s alliance government with the Congress.
KANAKPURA: It’s also a taluk headquarters and has many scenic spots catering to a variety of tourists like those interested in trekking, visiting temples and enjoying the lush green atmosphere. Although it’s time for scorching summer to commence most of the lakes are laughing with water level to the brim which speaks of the reasons for standing crops in the fields.
Mekedatu is a tourist place and you need to walk through the backwaters of the river during rainy season. The stretch of the part is so called as the mighty Cauvery literally becomes a small stream such that even a goat can jump from one side to the other part of the river.
Kanakpura was once also the name of the parliamentary constituency which has been now been renamed as Bengaluru Rural. The area which was hitherto known for agriculture, horticulture, sericulture and dairy farming, of late has also become a hub of granite industry and the granite found here has a huge demand not only in the state but elsewhere across the country and outside as well.
Granite business has also become a controversial subject of late with accusations of the administrative machinery and politicians of all hues making hay while the place was also the hotbed of illegal sand smuggling.
In fact PGR Sindhia had a complete control on the constituency for a couple of decades starting from 1983 when he represented it for the first time. He continuously won in Kanakpura during the 1983,1985,1989,1994 and 2004 general elections. Hailing from the RSS and ABVP background he distanced himself from these organizations and identified with the Janata Party and Janata Dal.
But all these accomplishments became a glory of the past as he drifted away from the Janata Pariwar to join the Bahujan Samaj Party. He was also nominated as Vice President of the state BSP but afterwards he miserably lost from this constituency and was expelled from the party.
In this way after undergoing a horrible honeymoon he made up his mind to return to the parent party hoping for a political rehabilitation. But in the meantime much had changed on the ground in Kanakpura. Sathanuru which was till then a separate constituency became part of the Kanakpura constituency and DK Shivakumar, Power Minister who’s all powerful in Sathanuru switched over his winning spree from Kanakpura.
DK Shivakumar has not only been returning from this constituency but thanks to his clout with the party high command he has also ensured that his brother DK Suresh also became the Lok Sabha member from Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency.
He began his political career at the age of 25 by becoming an MLA from Sathanuru in 1989.That’s only a beginning as he became a minister when he was barely 30.His close proximity with SM Krishna as chief minister catapulted him to the role of the latter’s Man Friday. So far he’s been elected for five terms from Sathanuru and Kanakapura. In a way DK Shivakumar’s entry to Kanakpura also paved the way for PGR Sindhiya’s exit from the same.
Perhaps this experience of providing shelter was acknowledged by the party high command which entrusted with him another such assignment to keep the 46 Gujarat Congress MLAs intact to ensure the election of Ahmed Patel, party treasurer to the Rajya Sabha. He did no mistake in fulfilling his responsibilities but that also led to the beginning of a series of IT raids on his houses, offices and other properties across the country.
He’s yet to come clean on the fallout of such raids but things like these have hardly made any change over his master control on the constituency. The party office in a new building is being refurbished in grand manner while the Janata Dal Secular party office has been housed in an old building lacking basic infrastructure.
On the face of it, the situation gives a rosy picture as if everything is well with DK Shivakumar’s candidature. According to the Janata Dal Sources, Shivakumar’s family organizes some or the other event throughout the year just to keep the voters in good humor.
Sometime back under the guise of ‘Sreenivas Kalyanotsava’ every household was presented a sari. Likewise presentations or prizes in the form of wristwatches, wall clocks, cookers and laptops make it to every voter on the list. The competitions’ include quizzes, Rangoli and what not.
Again JDS leaders confide: Don’t be under the impression that all these are provided by the minister’s family. They’ll have sponsors in the form of granite quarry owners, businessmen and similar patrons.
They also admit: It’s not that everyone’s happy here. People are scared to talk in open against their nefarious activities. They are tired about the atrocities being committed on all those who try to raise their voices.
There’s a big chunk of silent voters who if at all make up their mind can change the tables upside down. But that’s the million dollar question which’s less chances of being answered in the affirmative.
MAGADI: HC Balakrishna who’s with the Janata Dal Secular for long parted ways with other seven JDS MLAs after they were expelled from the party for violating the party whip during the Rajya Sabha elections. All of them ultimately resigned from the party and joined the ruling Congress which rewarded them with party tickets.
He first got elected on a BJP ticket during 1994 polls but lost the subsequent elections again as a BJP candidate in 1999.In between he joined the Janata Dal Secular and had been getting elected successively in the polls during 2004,2008 and 2013.
But now it’s a total above turn to him. Interestingly the whole Congress unit which had been vehemently opposing him has suddenly embraced wholesale the Janata Dal Secular which it had been fighting tooth and nail.
This change of party has changed the situation so much that the Congress party office has transformed itself into the Janata Dal Secular office while the Congress party office is yet under construction!
A Manjunath who had lost to HC Balakrishna as a Congress candidate in the previous elections is now the JDS opponent to the latter. Just like they say everything is fair in love and war HM Revanna, Transport minister who was all along a formidable rival to HC Balakrishna is now being compelled to canvass for him. While A. Manjunath who’s the JDS candidate now still regards HM Revanna as his political guru and has his portrait unveiled in the JDS office!
Caste is thicker than blood is not a new found belief in this country. But to witness it you should come to Ramnagar district as Bhairegowda, former panchayati member claims: We have voted for Janata Pariwar ever since we have started exercising our electoral franchise. Let anyone chop off our hands but we shall only vote for Devegowda’s party!
Compared to the overconfident mood in the JDS office, there’s lull in the Congress circles. However Firoz Pasha, former town municipality president becomes cool to pooh pooh all tall claims made by the JDS camp. To substantiate his argument he claims: Can any election be won by such sheer enthusiasm? Balakrishna sir has been the MLA for four terms and has contributed enough for the development of the constituency. DK Suresh, Lok Sabha member also has good relations with voters while social welfare schemes of the Siddaramaiah government will contribute in ensuring the Congress candidate’s win.
CHANNAPATNA: This constituency has been considered as the most sensitive, volatile and of high voltage among all the 224 Assembly constituencies of the state. HD Kumarswamy former chief minister is the JDS candidate here. He’s also the party candidate in the adjoining Ramnagar constituency as well. CP Yogeshwara, sitting MLA is the BJP candidate for the third time while HM Revanna the Transport minister is the ruling party candidate.
For CP Yogeshwara, parties hardly matter to him as has been evinced by his electoral conquests. He first won from here as an Independent candidate in 1999 and joined the Congress party and later was re-elected on the party ticket in 2004 and 2008.Following the BJP government coming to power he quit his seat to become a minister in 2008.However, in the subsequent by-elections he forfeited his seat as a BJP candidate to Ashwath MC of the Janata Dal Secular.
Then HD Kumarswamy had announced that Ashwath MC was a diamond. But the human ‘diamond’ in no time joined the ruling BJP and vacated his seat when HD Kumarswamy dubbed him as ‘Black Diamond’. CP Yogeshwara again retained his seat as a BJP candidate in the subsequent by-polls held in 2011.
But he quit the BJP and contested the seat as a candidate of Samajvadi party in 2013 and made it to the Assembly. So for CP Yogeshwara changing parties and still making it to the Assembly is not a big deal.
But this time around the ground situation however doesn’t seem to be as conducive as it used to be earlier in all the six previous elections held so far. For instance during the 2013 elections he just managed to register a win against Anitha Kumarswamy by defeating her by a margin of 6,464 votes.
HD Kumarswamy looks to be making all ditch efforts to avenge the defeat of his wife who had shifted to the constituency after completing one term in Madhugiri constituency of Tumakuru district.
He has now claimed: Ramnagar and Channapatna are like two eyes and there’s no way one can see only with one eye.
But those in CP Yogeshwara’s camp make fun of this claim: Where’s was this second eye while he was a chief minister. Was he blind then?
But if you ask those in the HDK’S camp as to which seat he’ll retain in the event of winning from both, they are not sure as the only utmost priority now is to see that CP Yogeshwara is defeated!
RAMANAGAR: The constituency has remained a Janata Dal Secular party bastion from 2004 onwards when HD Kumarswamy won from there for the first time. He was subsequently reelected during the 2008 and 2013 polls while the party got elected in the by-polls held in 2009.He triumphed last time by a margin of 25,398 votes.
Every now and then he keeps swearing in that Ramnagar is his political birth place and will never ever think of changing his constituency. But, he’s no rationale to contest the neighboring constituency Channapatna.
One thing which is a noteworthy factor in this Vokkaliga dominant district is irrespective of the parties the personalities matter and this time around there appears to be mutual war of all sorts and forms.
Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti
