HD Kumaraswamy retains Channapatna, Anitha to fight Ramanagara bypoll

Bengaluru: With Chief Minister designate H D Kumaraswamy, deciding to retain the Channapatna constituency, his wife Anitha Kumarsawamy is preparing to contest from the Ramanagara constituency he gave up, in the by-elections that will follow.

While Mr Kumaraswamy has now won three consecutive elections from Ramanagara, his victory margin has fallen over the years. While in 2008, he won by a margin of over 40,000 votes, it fell to around 27, 000 in 2013 and this year he led by an even lesser margin of 22,000 votes.

It is believed some of the damage in 2013 was done by Mr Kumaraswamy's arch rival, D K Shivakumar of the Congress, who personally campaigned against him following the merger of the two hoblis of Dodda Maralawadi and Harohalli that were previously with his Sathanur constituency, with Ramanagara.

In the recent election, with the Congress fielding a Muslim candidate against him, Mr Kumaraswamy hardly received any votes from the community, affecting his margin of victory. The rumour that the JD(S) was planning to join hands with the BJP, in case of a hung assembly, added to his falling popularity among Muslims . Although the JD(S) is expected to get Muslim votes this time with the Congress now on its side, Mr Kumaraswamy cannot ignore his foe-turned-friend, Shivakumar, who still has control of the two hoblis of Dodda Maralawadi and Harohalli in the constituency, say party sources.