Congress party leaders confident they can wrest seat this time from Sriramulu camp
Railway minister and BJP leader D.V. Sadananda Gowda campaigns for party candidate Mr Obalesh in the Bellary(ST) Assembly constituency on Monday
Bellary: Perhaps, for the first time in a decade the Reddy brothers and B. Sreeramulu combine appears shaky in the face of the Congress onslaught in Bellary (ST) this bypoll. Led by energy minister, D.K. Shivakumar, the party’s strategy and campaign seems to have given the Congress a fighting chance in what has until now been seen as the fiefdom of the mining barons turned politicians and their close associate, Sreeramulu.
The ‘Operation Hasta’ Mr Shivakumar launched has virtually stunned the Reddy-Sreeramulu camp as he is going about acquiring an assured votebank for his candidate’s victory. The induction of JD(S) district heavyweight, Nara Suryanarayana Reddy, key office bearers of the JD(S) and BJP and several BJP members of gram panchayats and taluk panchayats into the Congress, has set off alarms bells among them.
To their dismay, Mr Shivakumar has succeeded in boosting the morale of party workers, who are doing a more ‘spirited’ campaign than the Sreeramulu camp. The minister has also been successful in pacifying all 20 ticket aspirants and other dissident leaders. Moreover, the fact that Mr Sreeramulu, who won from the constituency with an huge margin of 46,000 votes in 2011 and 33,000 votes in the 2013 assembly election, could not keep up the tempo in the recent Lok Sabha election where he gained only a 9,000 votes lead, has given the Congress more reason for hope these elections.
Several leaders of the party, which has set its sights on winning the votes of Muslims, Kurubas and SCs, feel there cannot be a better opportunity for the Congress to wrest the seat.
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