Karnataka elections: Seven-time winner BS Yeddyurappa stands tall in Shikaripura constituency

Shortly after filing his nomination from his electoral den of Shikharipura, in Shimoga district of central Karnataka, the BJP’s chief minister candidate, B S Yeddyurappa, 75, told his supporters that he was entrusting the constituency to them while he campaigns for the BJP across Karnataka. “There is no problem for me in Shikaripura. I will win by 40,000-50,000 votes. I will go there whenever I get some free time from campaigning in other parts of the state,” he said on campaign trail in Mysuru last week. Yeddyurappa has virtually decimated all his rivals in Shikaripura over the years. He has now represented the seat seven times since 1983, losing only one election, in 1999. Since 2006, when he was the deputy chief minister of Karnataka, the victories have been without rivals even putting up a fight. Even in 2013, when he left the BJP and floated his own party, the Karnataka Janata Party — to spite the BJP for not backing him amidst charges of corruption and nepotism — he defeated his nearest rival Shanta Veerappa Gowda of the Congress by a margin of 24,000 votes. In recent years, Yeddyurappa has consolidated his hold further by wooing formidable leaders from other parties, including Veerappa Gowda. Under Yeddyurappa, particularly during his reigns in power as deputy Chief Minister (2006-2007) and Chief Minister (2008-2011), Shikharipura saw rapid development, getting roads, drinking water, schools and colleges, including an engineering college run by his own family trust. Once a sleepy, agricultural town, Shimoga is now an aspiring city with malls, big hotels, hospitals, call centres, top banks and financial institutions Yeddyurappa has been telling voters that he would bring a railway project, widen the drinking water network, and ensure more employment opportunities if he becomes the CM again. The Congress has named local panchayat leader Goni Malthesh, 42, a member of the Kuruba community, to which Siddaramaiah belongs, as its candidate from Shikaripura, while the JD(S) has fielded H Balegar, 56, a member of the Scheduled Tribe Valmiki Nayak community, who lost the 2013 polls by a margin of over 50,000 to Yeddyurappa. “The key to winning Shikaripura is the support of the Lingayat and Lambani communities, which add up to over 35 per cent of the votes. Both these communities are in Yeddyurappa’s bag. The Lingayat votes would have split if Veerappa Gowda were contesting,” says M Nagaraj, a local political worker. T Basavaraj, a local businessman, also says Veerappa Gowda would have been in with a chance if contesting. “There is sympathy for the man who has lost two polls. If Veerappa Gowda had been in the fray, he would have been the favourite to win this time.” According to local Congress leaders, the reason the party went with the relatively unknown Goni Malthesh was that it needed to build its base following the recent poaching of its leadership base by the BJP — as part of a larger strategy across the state. The nearly 20 per cent backward caste community in the region has no leaders and efforts are being made by the Congress to groom people like Goni Malthesh to take up the mantle. JD(S) candidate Balegar poses a bigger challenge to Yeddyurappa. Apart from being from the Valmiki Nayak community, Balegar has a positive image, and could garner the support of the minorities (10 per cent vote) and Scheduled Castes that usually go to the Congress. Says Basavaraj, “One of the reasons Yeddyurappa had Valmiki Nayak leader B Sreeramulu by his side while filing his nomination on April 19 was to cancel out the support base of the JD(S) candidate, since Sreeramulu is viewed as a big leader of the Valmiki community.” Ravi Kumar, a government school teacher from Mosur in Shikaripura, asserts that finally Yeddyurappa will emerge victorious. “There is a feeling among most people that they should give the man who has done a lot for the region a final victory. The situation may have been different if the BJP had fielded anyone else, including either of Yeddyurappa’s two sons.” Sunil Vinayak, a hardware store owner, says they don’t mind that Yeddyurappa isn’t campaigning much. “We will ensure his victory in any case. Yeddyurappa is the tallest political leader in this region. He has transformed Shikaripura. Source : The Indian Express