Immediately after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah addressed a party workers’ meet in Hootagalli in Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency last week, his friends-turned-foes in both the JD(S) and the BJP are learnt to have put their heads together to come up with a ‘game plan’ to defeat their common arch-rival in the coming Assembly elections to the State.
A meeting between former Minister V. Srinivas Prasad from the BJP, and former Ministers A.H. Vishwanath and G.T. Deve Gowda from the JD(S) in Mysuru recently has set off speculation about a possible joining of forces of the Opposition to achieve the “common goal” of defeating Mr. Siddaramaiah.
Mr. G.T. Deve Gowda, who represents Chamundeshwari in the Assembly, has vowed to contest against Mr. Siddaramaiah in the 2018 polls and teach him a lesson. Mr. Prasad and Mr. Vishwanath, who recently fell out with the Chief Minister, are expected to make common cause with Mr. Gowda.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Gowda said he was “hopeful” that the BJP, which does not have a strong candidate in the constituency, will take a “politically expedient stand” to defeat Mr. Siddaramaiah in Chamundeshwari.
When the two JD(S) leaders met Mr. Prasad at the latter’s residence in Mysuru, Mr. Prasad, a senior vice-president of the BJP in Karnataka, had assured to work for the defeat of Mr. Siddaramaiah in the elections.
According to sources in the JD(S) in Bengaluru, Mr. Prasad is keen on opposing Mr. Siddaramaiah regardless of his political affiliation. Mr. Prasad has reportedly promised the JD(S) leaders of supporting them in their fight against Mr. Siddaramaiah and his close aide H.C. Mahadevappa. Sources also said the three leaders were once close associates of Mr. Siddaramaiah, but are now bitter political foes.
The possibility of the Opposition joining forces in Chamundeshwari in the coming elections has revived memories of the epic electoral showdown between the Congress and the JD(S) during the byelections to Chamundeshwari constituency in 2006, when Mr. Siddaramaiah sought to retain his seat after quitting JD(S) and joining the Congress.
Mr. Siddaramaiah had scraped through in the bypolls with a narrow margin of 257 votes against JD(S) candidate Shivabasappa, while the BJP had stayed away from the electoral fray. But, unlike then, when JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy was the Chief Minister and B.S. Yeddyurappa was the Deputy CM, Mr. Siddaramaiah is on the saddle now.