Congress leaders were wary about the prospects of their candidate Yathindra, son of CM Siddaramaiah, until BJP leader and BS Yeddyurappa’s son
BY Vijayendra was talked of as the BJP candidate. The pressure was on the reclusive doctor to retain the segment his father represented twice. But the confusion in the BJP camp over the candidature of Vijayendra, which led to violence, has helped Congress.
When political greenhorn Vijayendra’s name was doing the rounds after BJP workers from the constituency petitioned both Yeddyurappa and BJP national president Amit Shah, Siddaramaiah had called him an outsider. Overnight, Vijayendra emerged as the Lingayat face in the region. He was well-received by the people in the constituency, particularly the Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats who were looking for a leader.
Vijayendra rented a house to take on the CM’s outsider charge. He toured the constituency and fixed a date for filing his nomination as well. It was at a public meeting in Nanjangud that Yeddyurappa announced Vijayendra wouldn’t be contesting and all hell broke loose. His followers went berserk and staged a protest by breaking chairs and tables.
The next evening, amid protests, the party fielded T Basavaraju. The entire drama was over in three weeks.
Varuna was being seen a battle of heavyweights, the sitting CM’s son against the former CM’s son. Shivanna, a voter from Varuna, says it is a zero voltage contest now. Facing Yathindra and Basavaraju is Abhishek Manegar of JD(S), a greenhorn.
Varuna was carved out of the three taluks of Mysuru, Nanjangud and T Narsipur of Mysuru district during the 2008 delimitation process.
Siddaramaiah has vacated the seat for his son Yathindra and shifted to neighbouring Chamundeshwari. Varuna is a well-developed constituency with good roads; almost every village road has been concretised.
Lingayats and Dalits are the major communities in Varuna, with 53,000 and 48,000 voters. Kurubas, the community to which Yathindra belongs, are in a sizable number too, followed by Nayakas and Upparas.
