Tumakuru:Coconut grove poised for another fierce battle

Tumakuru:Coconut grove poised for another fierce battle

Tumakuru is a district place and the district headquarters is just about an hour's drive from the state capital.It's also popularly known as 'Kalpataru Nadu' due to majority of the farming lands boasting of Coconut plantations all over along with Arecanut.

But the once upon lush green terrain which was a feast to the eyes is now only a glory of the past as these days you only find a pathetic sight of the other kind.Thanks to failing rainy season,over exploitation of underground water and migration of people to smart cities dried up plantations makes your heart burn.

Just like in other areas of the state all Taluk places are a witness of mushrooming of legal and illegal layouts on the once fertile agricultural fields on all possible directions.The others who still want to remain attached with peasantry are literally found struggling amidst a lot of adverse conditions.

Well apart from such conditions on ground the political situation doesn't seem to have changed significantly.A curious insight reveals many interesting facts about Tumakuru Lok Sabha constituency.If Kalaburagi became part of the state during 1971 after becoming free from the clutches of Hyderabad Nizams so did Tumakuru in the same year rescuing itself from the royal Mysuru kingdom.

Although 16 Parliamentary elections have been held so far after Independence only a handful of leaders have managed to represent it and that too on the banner of different parties.A couple of them have even done so not once or twice but four times!

Much before the constituency became part of the state four elections were held whilst in Mysuru state.CR Basappa was the first MP from the Indian National Congress.He was succeeded by MV Krishnappa of the neighboring Kolar district during the elections held in 1957 and 1962 and was also from the same INC.

However K Lakkappa of the Praja Socialist Party(PSP) snatched the seat from the INC in 1967.But he joined the bandwagon of INC and again wrested it in1971.In fact his winning spree went on nonstop in a row by getting elected in the next two elections during 1977 and 1980!

He was replaced by GS Basavaraj again of the INC in 1984 who represented it on behalf of the same party during the elections of 1989 and 1999.Later he switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party and emerged victorious in 2009.

S Mallikarjunaiah of the Bharatiya Janata Party also won the seat in 1998 and 2004 while CN Bhaskarappa of the Janata Dal won once in 1996.

S Mallikarjunaiah also served as the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha under the Congress regime.

But what's intriguing is the outcome of 2014 polls when the whole country was reeling under the wave of Narendra Modi the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate and four time MP GS Basavaraj was humbled by a relatively new face in the form of SP Muddahanumegowda of the INC.

BJP's loss in Tumakuru came out as a rude shock to the state party leaders but not the local cadres.On the other hand they played an instrumental role in defeating their own party candidate for alleged highhandedness attitude of the latter towards them.

Even the margin of 74,041 votes was also not negligible.SP Muddahanumegowda of the INC polled 4,29,868 votes defeating GS Basavaraj of the BJP who bagged 3,55,827 votes.Late A Krishnappa,then state Janata Dal Secular president came third by securing 2,58,683 votes.

SP Muddahanumegowda,a former judicial officer turned politician has carved a niche for himself by being easily accessible to the voters of his constituency.He has also won laurels of being the most active member of the lower house posing the highest number of questions.

He entered electoral politics by defeating YK Ramaiah in Kunigal Assembly constituency and was elected twice to the state Assembly before becoming an Lok Sabha Member.

In spite of being an opposition MP he hasn't lagged behind in garnering the best of projects sanctioned to the district.Smart City and Amrith schemes have ensured financial aid while the district has also bagged aid for the development of Vasantnarasapur Industrial Park.

The district has also been graced with a HAL chopper manufacturing unit near Gubbi and Food Park.The premises allotted for free by the Siddaganga Mutt to HMT,Asia's largest watch manufacturing has now been handed over to India Space Research Organization(ISRO) after HMT closed down.

Three ministers represent the district in the coalition state government including Dr G Parameshwara,Deputy Chief Minister.SR Sreenivas of Gubbi and Vekataramanappa of Pavagada representing JDS are the other two ministers.

The sitting MP is confident of being renominated by the party but the friendly party Janata Dal Secular is toying with the idea of claiming the constituency for itself.As of now it's pressing for 12 seats including some of them having Congress MPs'.

HD Devegowda,former prime minister and Janata Dal Secular party supremo has claimed today:Our's is a small party and we are in no position of bargaining a fixed number of seats.

But everyone who is used to his political ploys also are very well aware of his penchant for being a hard bargainer.Thanks to his proximity with the top Congress brass which is prepared to yield to any extent to retain him in the 'Mahaghatabandhan' no one can make a wild guess as of now.

GS Basavaraj is again hopeful of bagging the BJP ticket,thanks to his connections with BS Yeddyurappa,former chief minister and state BJP president.

At the same time it's not a cake walk either as Sogadu Shivanna,former BJP minister and four times MLA plus sworn defiant of BS Yeddyurappa's public pronouncements is not idly wasting time.Sureshgowda,defeated Tumakuru MLA is also said to be giving his try.

Irrespective of who bags the saffron party ticket one thing is for sure that it's not going to be an easy fight but a much more fierce battle it's bound to become in the case of a common candidate on behalf of the Congress and Janata Dal Secular.

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti