Bengaluru: The JD(S), which is hoping to win from Hassan, Mandya, Kolar, Shimoga and Chikkaballapur and believes it has a fighting chance in Tumkur, Chitradurga and Bidar too, is reportedly worried its optimism may not pay off in Chikkaballpur where former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy is contesting.
While the party has no doubts it will strike gold in Hassan, Mandya and Kolar, it is less sure of Chikkaballur as Mr Kumaraswamy could not spend enough time campaigning there. Also the party workers lacked coordination unlike those of the Congress and BJP who had outstanding networks there during the elections.
The JD(S) is not sure of its chances in Tumkur too as it doesn’t have the full backing of the Vokkaliga leaders, who were intially unhappy with its decision to field Mr A Krishnappa and only rallied behind it after KPCC president, Dr G Parameshwar threw his “poison” barb at JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda.
Even worse, with a couple of days left for polling, the district Vokkaliga leaders held a meeting to convince the community to vote for a Vokkaliga, Mr Mudduhanume Gowda of the Congress.
It is believed this meeting may have divided the Vokkaligas and hurt the chances of the JD(S).
In Chitradurga the JD(S) has fielded former minister, Goolihatti Shekhar, who could benefit from the presence of Mr Krishnappa in neighbouring Tumkur as his constituency too has a large number of Golla voters.
But it cannot take anything for granted as the BJP’s Janardhan Swamy and Mr Chandrappa of the Congress are strong candidates as well.
In Shimoga, the party may have a good candidate in the fray, but with former Chief Minister, B. S. Yeddyurappa too contesting, it is afraid he could take away some of the Idiga votes and also influence a few of its own strongholds.
A win in Bidar also seems unlikely for the party as senior BJP leader, Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, threw his weight behind former chief minister N. Dharam Singh of the Congress after his son was denied a ticket by the saffron party, pushing his chances of victory higher.
