MYSURU: It is a replay of the high-voltage 2006 bypoll in Chamundeshwari assembly constituency. With CM Siddaramaiah’s victory from the segment being crucial to his return to office, the JD(S) is leaving no stone unturned to defeat him.
Siddarmaiah had in 2006 scraped through with a narrow margin of 257 votes in the face of a combined challenge from the ruling JD(S)-BJP combine, headed by HD Kumaraswamy. The bypoll victory was considered Siddaramaiah’s political rebirth as he had only then joined
Congress after quitting JD(S). Siddaramaiah had parted ways with JD(S) as he thought the party had sidelined him to enable
Kumaraswamy to become CM.
The two leaders have hit the campaign trail hard and have already trained their guns at each other. Kumaraswamy, who was in the third day of his tour of the segment, was in Koorgahalli when he got to know about the support extended to his party by the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) headed by Asaduddin Owaisi. A jubilant Kumaraswamy welcomed it.
Within minutes, the CM, who was campaigning at Ramabhai Nagar, hit back at JD(S) and called it communal: “They (JDS) claim themselves to be a secular party, but they have entered into an alliance with Owaisi’s AIMIM which is a communal party.” Siddaramaiah also sought to discount AIMIM’s support, saying the party had no base in
Karnataka.
During the 2006 bypoll, the two leaders were virtually at each other’s throat. General observer Raymond Peter, a 1984-batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer, was caught in the slugfest as he spared no effort to ensure fair and free polls. JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda held a dharna against the IAS officer at Gandhi Square while Congress stood by him, saying the ruling dispensation of JD(S) and
BJP was misusing office in its effort to lure voters.
While Siddaramaiah has already toured some 75% of the segment since March 29 when he launched the campaign, Kumaraswamy has covered about 100 villages in the first phase of his campaign. As he wound up his tour on Monday, Kumaraswamy tried to convey to the electorate that Siddaramaiah is an opportunist.
“After he won the bypoll, he migrated to Varuna and has not bothered to take care of you for 10 years. Now, he is here seeking your support when he didn’t do anything for you even when he was CM,” he told the gathering at Hootagalli.
Siddaramaiah was keen on contesting from Chamundeshwari and Badami but the high command shot it down, saying it could send out a message that he was unsure of getting elected. Though the chief minister’s decision to rush to Chamundeshwari on Monday to resume campaigning is being seen as nervousness, Siddaramaiah gave it a different spin. “Since the Congress candidates will file the nomination papers after April 17, I had some time before touring the state so I came here,” he told reporters at Mysuru airport.
Siddaramaiah held discussions with PWD minister HC Mahadevappa, Chamarajanagar MP Dhruvanarayana, former MP C H Vijayashankar, MLC Dharmasena, Kollegal candidate AR Krishna Murthy and other leaders at his TK Layout residence before heading out for a roadshow.
He launched the campaign from Lingabudhipalya where a majority belong to Bhovi community. During the roadshow, locals were seen climbing the bonnet of his vehicle, performing ‘arathi’ and presenting him with the Mysuru Peta. Siddaramaiah is counting on a home run.
