Will Ramalinga Reddy spoil Tejasvini’s party in Bengaluru South?

Bengaluru, Mar 20: Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency may not be a cake walk to BJP's likely candidate Tejaswini Ananth Kumar as expected, if Congress decides to field senior leader Ramalinga Reddy.

Stating that he was approached by the party, Reddy told PTI, "as I had never thought about going to Parliament, I said I will not contest."

Though Ramalinga Reddy has ruled out his contest from Bengaluru South, in absence of suitable candidate, under high command pressure he may file his nomination from the constituency.

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Known as BJP bastion the Bengaluru South seat, late union minister Ananth Kumar has the distinction of getting elected six times consecutively from this constituency. However, the politics is game of possibilities. In 2018, Ramalinga Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy won from Jayanagar constituency by securing 54,458 votes breaking into the constituency that has been a BJP stronghold for the past decade.

If no Congress candidate decides not to contest, the grand old party may look up to Ramlinga Reddy who has considerable influence in the south.

As far as Lok Sabha elections are concerned, late chief minister R. Gundu Rao, father of KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao, had won the seat way back in 1989. He is the one and only Congress leader to have won the Bengaluru South. The constituency created a record of sorts by being the only constituency which the Congress lost in the State during 1977 general elections.

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Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency comprises eight Legislative Assembly segments. Prior to the delimitation, Brahmin votes were the highest across the eight Assembly segments, tilting the contest in favor of Ananth Kumar. This constituency has an estimated 1998724 lakh voters. The two dominant communities - the Vokkaliga and the Brahmins, account nearly 40 per cent of the electorate. They have traditionally influenced the poll outcome.

Former Union Minister Ananth Kumar, who died last year, represented Bangalore South after defeating Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani in the 2014 Parliament polls.