Fourteen Lok Sabha constituencies in the old Mysuru(South Karnataka) region are going to the polls tomorrow i.e, Thursday, 18 April in the first round of general elections while polling is scheduled on 23 April for the remaining 14 constituencies spread over Central and North Karnataka areas comprising of erstwhile Mumbai and Hyderabad province territories.
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| Image source : newsable.asianetnews.com |
The constituencies going to polls tomorrow are as follows:Chamarajanagar, Mysuru-Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi-Chikkmagaluru, Hassan, Mandya, Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru Central, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru and Chitradurga.
Southern Karnataka has been known for fierce battle between the Indian National Congress(INC) and the Janata Party/Dal hitherto party of the Old Congress or Congress(Organization) since early eighties.Although a Congress led Janata Dal Secular(JDS) party supported state government came into being during 2004 for the first time in the history of the state it was short lived paving way for a JDS-BJP coalition government for 20 months.
However either of the alliance partners joined hands to fight the subsequent general elections together.In that way probably again for the first time the Congress and JDS have come together officially to jointly face an general election.It's not as if they never had any understanding earlier as any number of match fixings,friendly contests and unofficial tie ups have taken place many a time in the annals of state history with the sole intention of keeping the saffron party out of power.Mandya,Hassan,Tumakuru and Bengaluru Rural have been declared as four sensitive constituencies while the first three one's also witnessed high decibel campaigning.
Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh,multilingual star and wife of MH Ambareesh,Kannada film star turned politician is contesting as a BJP supported Independent candidate against Nikhil Kumaraswamy,son of HD Kumaraswamy,Chief Minister as the ruling Janata Dal Secular party nominee.In the event of winning the seat, Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh will be creating a new history in Mandya Lok Sabha constituency as no Independent has won from there so far.
Probably Mandya has become one of the keenly contested constituencies and the importance accorded to it by local TV channels portrayed a piquant picture to the viewers as if elections are only being held in Mandya! While Ms Sumalatha is heavily banking upon the sympathy factor following her husband's untimely demise and his contribution, the same reasons have become a subject for ridicule by the JDS leaders.In fact she has been at the receiving end all along the campaign and under severe and low level attack by all sundry, leaders small and big belonging to the JDS.But she's proved herself no innocent woman and her rebuttal of all the abuses hurled upon her has given an impression of she already being a seasoned politician!
Many a Congress cadre have violated the dictates of the party high command and have been actively campaigning for Sumalatha, much to the embarrassment of Congress leaders.Challenging star Darshan and Rocking star Yash, popular Kannada heroes have all along been backing her and have thus added glamour.Nikhil Kumaraswamy is also a film star.R Dhruvanarayan, sitting Congress MP of Chamarajanagar is said to be clinching a hatric this time,thanks to his people friendly approach apart from various developmental works in the district.V Sreenivasprasad, former State and Union minister who had won the constituency five times on a Congress and JDU ticket is now the BJP candidate here.He's been accused of indulging into an lethargic attitude towards the voters apart from being inaccessible to people.His deteriorating health parameters demand a rest of 12-14 hours a day, according to the people in the constituency.
Whether the sitting MP's good work will retain him or the pro Modi wave will wash him out of the scene needs to be seen.Pratap Simha, sitting Mysuru-Kodagu BJP MP has been renominated in spite of online campaign opposing his candidature.However he's said to sail through, thanks to his Vokkaliga community and pro Modi wave pervading across the largely urban constituency.
CH Vijayashankar,former BJP MP is now the Congress candidate here.He belongs to the shepherd community and a protege of Siddaramaiah, former chief minister.His prestige is at stake, proclaimed Siddaramaiah and likewise did BS Yeddyurappa,BJP state president and former chief minister.
But going by the caste equations and half hearted attempts by the JDS ministers,leaders and cadre it looks Pratap Simha's path ahead to Parliament is much easy.
Nalin Kumar Kateel, sitting BJP MP making it for the third time from South Canara(Dakshina Kannada) is a forgone conclusion as the coastal belt has literally transformed itself into a saffron bastion ever since early eighties.Mithun Rai is the Congress candidate and as usual is expected to bag the minority votes en mass but such chunk of votes alone will not be enough for him to unseat the BJP candidate.The situation is either no different to Ms Shobha Karandlaje, BJP MP from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency. She also managed to escape the onslaught of online campaign against her candidature.Although the seat had been allotted to the JDS in the seat sharing arrangement, Pramod Madhwaraj, former Congress minister had to be requested to contest as the JDS lacked candidates' to do so.
Like Mandya, Hassan has also raised eyebrows in the political circles due to Prajwal Revanna, JDS candidate and HD Devegowda's grandson entering the electoral fray.According to local sources the ruling party cadre is terrifically upset over the choice and are awaiting for an opportunity to register their anger.A Manju, former Congress minister is the BJP candidate here.A frequent party hopper, A Manju started his political innings by becoming an MLA from BJP only to desert it to join the Congress.Now he's again back in the BJP giving sleepless nights to the Gowda family.But whether the anger of JDS cadre alone will be enough for him to sail through is a hot topic frequently doing rounds in the state political circles now.
Whether HD Devegowda will return to Parliament from Tumakuru or bite the dust depends more upon the infighting between the INC-JDS cadre and the stance they ultimately will resort to at the polling booths.The Bharatiya Janata Party candidates Tejasvi Surya in Bengaluru South and PC Mohan, twice BJP MP from Bengaluru Central have less to worry to get elected.
BK Hariprasad,Congress Rajya Sabha MP is the party candidate in Bengaluru South constituency which has been returning non Congress candidates since 1977.R Gundurao, former Congress chief minister is the lone exception during 1989.Film star Prakash Raj(Rai) can be only successful in eating into the vote bank of Rizwan Arshad, Congress candidate in Bengaluru Central who had lost to PC Mohan in 2014.Whether Prakash Raj, the vocal critic of right wing politics will be able to retain his deposit is one of the subjects for discussion in the constituency!
KH Muniyappa, the seven times MP is embroiled into rough weather in Kolar reserved constituency.Just like Mallikarjun Kharge, every time he's predicted to lose will bounce back much to the agony of his detractors.Likewise DK Suresh, sitting Bengaluru Rural MP is said to be having no challenge from Ashwathnarayan, BJP candidate and party spokesperson in Bengaluru Rural constituency.
KH Muniyappa, the seven times MP is embroiled into rough weather in Kolar reserved constituency.Just like Mallikarjun Kharge, every time he's predicted to lose will bounce back much to the agony of his detractors.Likewise DK Suresh, sitting Bengaluru Rural MP is said to be having no challenge from Ashwathnarayan, BJP candidate and party spokesperson in Bengaluru Rural constituency.
The DK brothers as they are called including DK Shivakumar, Power Minister are well known for distributing freebies throughout the year under some pretext or the other and as of now they have no contender to challenge the family fortress.DV Sadanandagowda,Union Program Implementation and Statistics Minister is facing a tough competition from Krishna Byregowda,Rural Development Minister in Bengaluru North constituency.Both, Chikkaballapur and Chitradurga constituencies are said to be a sure bet for the BJP.
-Manohar Yadavatti
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