DKS cashes in on dissatisfaction of BJP candidate

BENGALURU: The coup by the DK brothers — Shivakumar and Suresh — in luring BJP Ramanagara assembly bypoll candidate L Chandrashekar back to the Congress may have appeared to many as a “masterstroke”, but party insiders said it came to water resources minister DK Shivakumar on a platter.

Seizing the opportunity, Shivakumar made the situation work to the advantage of JD(S)-Congress combine candidate Anitha Kumaraswamy. Party sources said even Chandrashekar was not aware till Thursday morning, when he joined MP DK Suresh for a press conference, that he was returning to the Congress.

“The JD(S)-Congress candidate was expected to win by a good margin,” a Congress source said. “The calculation was that the BJP [Chandrashekar] would garner 30,000 votes and lose the deposit. The sole concern was ironing out differences at the ground level between Congress and JD(S) workers, who were at loggerheads and not happy with Anitha’s candidature.”

The Bengaluru Rural belt has been the fiefdom of JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda’s family and the DK brothers, where they have fought each other bitterly to gain control over every inch of land. The coalition politics brought about a truce between chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar after the assembly polls in May, but the camaraderie failed to have a cascading effect on workers of the two parties at the grassroots level.

Congress sources said state BJP president B S Yeddyurappa’s may have been responsible for Chandrashekar’s decision to return to the Congress.

“Chandrashekhar tried to get in touch with Yeddyurappa thrice on Wednesday, and finally asked party district chief M Rudresh to call him,” a source said. “Yeddyurappa took the call from Rudresh, who said Chandrashekar wanted to speak to him. But Yeddyurappa cut the call.”

Yeddyurappa ending the call is said to have been the last straw for Chandrashekar.