BJP’s Turvihal joins Congress ahead of bypoll in Maski

BENGALURU : BJP leader Basana Gouda Turvihal, who contested from the Maski Assembly constituency in 2018 against then Congress candidate Prathap Gouda Patil, joined the Congress on Sunday, after holding hush-hush talks with party leaders for weeks.

The Congress said that Turvihal’s entry will give a big boost to the party in the region as he had served in the local zilla panchayat for two terms. Also, he could reduce the dent caused by Prathap Gouda, who took away nearly 80 per cent of the party’s cadre when he switched from Congress to BJP.  

Turvihal lost to Prathap Gouda by a wafer-thin margin of 213 votes in 2018. A by-election is necessitated in the constituency as Prathap Gouda switched parties in the middle of the term. Both parties are girding up for an intense fight and the Election Commission is expected to announce the date for the bypoll soon after the results of RR Nagar and Sira Assembly by-elections on November 10.

Prathap Gouda first won from Maski in 2008 on a BJP ticket and switched to Congress in 2013 when the BJP splintered into KJP, BSR and BJP. A Nayaka leader, he won again in 2013 and 2018. His narrow margin of victory in 2018 was blamed on a large number of Lingayats, who form a major chunk of the electorate, voting for Turvihal, who is from the community. 

Political observers said, “The big question now is whether Turvihal will get those Lingayat votes to the Congress during the bypoll.”  Maski has about 60,000 Lingayat voters, 50,000 Valmiki Nayakas, 40,000 Scheduled Castes, 16,000 Kurubas and 10,000 Muslims.