Karnataka Bypolls: After War of Words, It Is Tears Galore Followed By Heavy Weight Star Campaigners

While campaigning battles are getting intense as the bypolls to RR Nagar and Sira in Karnataka approach, looks like the feud and intense battle between former coalition partners Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) will be the decisive factor this election season.

For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), these elections are an addition to their already full kitty and an opportunity to silence the critics over the internal feud that has the national party divided, but for the JD(S) as is evidenced by yet-another-show of the teary-eyed Kumaraswamy, it is a 'win or perish'.

For the Congress it is a prestige issue on more counts than one, although the chances of a victory here are lower.

For one, in R R Nagar it is Congress versus Congressman, as it’s the turncoat Muniratna, whose defection necessitated the elections, who has been fielded by the BJP. And he takes on debutant Kusuma H, daughter of a party old timer and widow of former IAS officer D K Ravi. Her father Hanumantharayappa was the JD(S) candidate in 2008 after the Congress denied him a ticket.

While Congress is putting all its weight behind the novice to brand her as the face of change, Muniratna, the new BJP man has his two time victory on his side as a precursor like did most of his fellow defectors who fared well in the bypolls. But this one is a huge prestige issue for the Kanakpura DK brothers who bear a stronghold over the dominantly Vokkaliga region; this is apart form this being the first election since the Congress trouble shooter D K Shivakumar took over as the KPCC Karnataka President.

In Sira too, it is Dr Rajesh Gowda, a former close aide of the Opposition party leader Siddharamaiah, and a former business partner of his son and Varuna MLA Dr Yathindra Siddaramaiah, who has been given a ticket by the BJP.

While his name was doing the rounds for a Congress ticket, the state president's choice of T B Jayachandra over Gowda is said to have motivated the jump which also saw his followers follow suit.

The JD(S) has chosen a reluctant Ammajamma, the widow of the former MLA Satyanarayan, whose demise necessitated this election.

And while it is war of words on one hand, it is tears galore at the other.

The last week had seen a war of words break between the two national parties, that made great fodder for headlines.

BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel took a jibe at Congress leaders and said the tiger (Huliya - as Siddharamaiah is called) will return to the forest and the rock (Kanakapura 'bande' as D K Shi is addressed) broken to pieces post the elections. Siddharamaiah retorted calling Nalin Kumar a 'cave man' and asked the BJP to send him back to the caves.

Taking potshots at the BJP party president and his mentor party national general secretary B L Santosh, the leader of opposition has called the former a vagabond who has been made the party president owing to favouritism.

All these remarks were made in response to Kateels's accusations that the Congress party has lost direction owing to the differences between Siddharamaiah and DK Shivakumar.

He also pulled a fast one at the JD(S) remembering its 'love marriage' with the Congress and the fallout thereafter. H D Kumaraswamy replied to that saying Kateel has no 'respect' and reminding him that 'everyday is not a Sunday' hinting that the party wont be able to repeat its KR Pete performance in Sira.

The BJP had managed to wrestle KR pete from JD(S) during the bypolls in December as the former JD(S) legislator Kc Narayana Gowda had jumped parties and contested from the BJP. He was one of the defectors who had been responsible for the fall of the previous Congress JDS coalition. This victory had registered the saffron party's maiden victory in a region which has always been the stronghold of the Gowda family.

Kumaraswamy as usual began the tear trail where he was seen shedding tears and asking voters to vote for the JD(S) if they wish to ‘save him’, apart from pinning hopes on the sympathy factor for the candidate. Meanwhile, the candidate herself is recuperating after being discharged from hospital post corona.

Tears were also shed by the BJP candidate Muniratna for a comment by the Congress leaders saying he had ''sold his mother' and gone away. The Congress candidate meanwhile has been shedding tears reminiscing her husband D K Ravi whose death had left the state shaken.

Shivakumar jumped to her defence too, saying while her tears were an outpouring of the pain she had experienced in life, Muniratna's were just his acting skill's on display. His movie making business skills are being applied to the election arena, he taunted, saying that the 'producer was now venturing into acting'.

While the Sira seat has traditionally been a fight between the JD(S) and the Congress, the BJP has been saying it will repeat a KR Pete result in the Vokkaliga stronghold. While the winning candidate got over 73,000 votes, the BJP has had to make do with around 18,000 votes in the last two elections and it is this jinx that it it aims to break.

For the BJP, the victory would also mean silencing the voices that are being raised against Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and his family, especially his son B Y Vijayendra, whose alleged highhandedness is irking fellow leaders.

Vijayendra, who is also the party vice president for Karnataka has been in-charge and has been camping and campaigning at Sira in Tumkur. Although quoted as saying that the party will seek votes on the basis of development and not caste, Vijayendra has been reaching out to the Kadugolla community who form the second largest section of voters in the constituency. The biggest vote bank are the Kunchatiga Vokkaligas to which community belong all the three contesting candidates.

While JD(S), in what is being called its last resort, had got its party supremo and 87-year-old former Prime Minister H D Devegowda too to campaign for Ammajamma for the past few days, the other two national parties seemed to have waited for the last hour to launch its heavy weights.

The Chief Minister, who was seen aggressively campaigning in the previous round of the bypolls for the 15 seats in December 2019, has stayed away from the scene so far and is said to be in the constituencies for three days starting today where he is campaigning in Sira along with Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda among others.

This after key Vokkaliga leaders including Deputy CM Ashwathnarayan and Health Minister Dr S Sudhakar were all in RR Nagar vouching for Muniratna yesterday.

Today, the party's candidate roped in movie star Darshan and Amulya Gowda and held a rally across the constituency. The rally saw thousands of fans on the streets with people showering flowers and clicking pictures of the 'D Boss' as he is known, clearly throwing corona caution to the wind.

The Congress countered it with all its big wigs from Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar to former Home minister Ramalinga Reddy and Krishna Byregowda campaigning with the candidate on one hand, and the youth leaders holding a massive bike rally in other pockets on the other.