Will JDS end six decades of ‘family rule’ in Hanur?

MYSURU: For over 60 years now, two families have had a grip on Hanur constituency in Chamarajanagar district. Power has remained with these two families, at times alternating between them, depending on the voters’ mood.  Former minister Raju Gowda’s family has traditionally been with the Congress, while H Nagappa’s family first aligned with the Janata Party, and later with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The hilly constituency, rich in natural resources, is dominated by Lingayats, Dalits, Kurubas, Gounders, tribals, Vokkaligas and other smaller communities.

The two rival families have seen their ups and downs in the past 60 years. G Venkate Gowda was elected Congress MLA from 1957 to 1962, G Raju Gowda from the same family won in 1978, 1985, 1989 and 1999, and his son Narendra has won thrice since 2008. H Nagappa won in 1967 and 1984, and after he was killed by forest brigand Veerappan, his wife Parimala won the election in 2004. 

Voters have consistently reposed faith in the arch-rivals, and even a generational change has not impacted the voting pattern much. This election too, the younger generation is preparing for a titanic contest. The Congress and BJP, which have made winnability the benchmark to field candidates, have stuck to the two families. Congress candidate R Narendra and BJP’s Preetham Nagappa have locked horns earlier too, and are depending on the family legacy and traditional supporters to see them through. The JDS has once again fielded MR Manjunath, a Kuruba, and for the first time, there appears to be a tough triangular contest. 

Congress workers are sweating it out under the scorching sun, listing out the Bhagyas given by former CM Siddaramaiah and distributing Congress guarantee cards to every household. While Preetham Nagappa is not too familiar among the voters, he secured 56,931 votes in the last election and has been campaigning hard for the past couple of months.

Manjunath is playing up underdevelopment and impressed people with his vision for Hanur. The JDS is working on social engineering and realignment of castes, reaching out to Dalits, Padayachi Gounders, and smaller backward communities that have remained with the Congress for decades. If the Congress has managed to consolidate Vokkaliga, Dalit and backward communities, the BJP is backed by Lingayat, Bedagamapana and others. But with Manjunath emerging as a strong contestant, both parties are now compelled to woo other communities.