Several candidates are fighting Karnataka assembly polls in unfamiliar territory

BENGALURU : It’s not only BJP ministers R Ashoka and V Somanna who will contest the May 10 elections from new constituencies, away from their home districts. Several other political greenhorns will make their debut in electoral politics in constituencies that are from their native places.
Prominent among these newbies are Anekal Doddaiah, an AAP candidate fielded in Ron, Gadag district, and Chikkarevanna, a BJP candidate for Ramdurg in Belagavi district. Both hail from Bengaluru and neither have family or other connections with the seats they are contesting from.
Doddaiah, originally from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, joined AAP in October last year. Hesays he chose Ron, 500km away from Bengaluru, as he frequented Gadag between 2014 and 2016 to drum up support for the Sangolli Rayanna Brigade floated by senior BJP functionary KS Eshwarappa.
Surprisingly, Doddaiah has drummed up enough ‘noise’ in the constituency that AAP is counting it as one of their most favourable seats. This is why Punjab chief minister Bhagawant Singh Mann accompanied Doddaiah when he filed nominations on Tuesday.
As for Chikkarevanna, a realtor and relative of minister MTB Nagaraj, people of Ramdurg are still in the dark on why he chose their constituency and what impressed BJP to give him a ticket, sidelining sitting MLA Mahadevappa Yadawad in the process.
Locals believe the concentrationof Kurubas in the constituency is the main the reason. Chikkarevanna is a Kuruba.
The realtor reportedly first visited Ramdurg to help people affected by floods in 2017 and has made several trips to the constituency since. He has doled out funds for renovation of temples, weddings of couples from poor families, and helping people with health issues. He also provided free food in a market to people every Sunday for over three years.
“He must have spent around Rs 15 to Rs 20 crore on social work in the past two to three years,” said one of his supporters.
In Haveri City, a reserved seat, BJP has fielded Gavisiddappa Dyamannanavar, who took voluntary retirement as a tahsildar to contest the election. He is a native of Lingadal village in Gadag district.
Since joining government service as a first division assistant in 2003, Gavisiddappa has all along served in Haveri district and is known for helping people without “demands”. People say his helpful nature stemmed from his ambition to contest the election, and being a staunch RSS ideologue only helpedhis cause. BL Santhosh, BJP national organising secretary, is said to have got him the ticket.
Subhash Chandra Rathod, a former district judge, is contesting from Chittapur taluk in Kalaburagi on a JD(S) ticket. He hails from Basavana Bagewadi taluk in Vijayapura district. “I wanted to contest these elections and Chittapur was the only nearby reserved seat, so I chose it,” said Rathod.
In the past, several candidates have contested from faraway constituencies and were elected. Sitting MLA P Rajeev from Kudachi in Belagavi is an example. A former police officer, Rajeev hails from Shivamogga district but managed to win the seat twice and is now seeking a third term. R Shankar had won from Ranebennur in 2018 although he is from Bengaluru.