Karnataka Legislative Council polls: Factions fight it out in Mandya

Bengaluru: True to its tradition, Mandya district, popularly known as 'Sugar bowl' of south India, is all set to witness a bitter battle between Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) despite a sharp division in the parties over the distribution of tickets.

The grapevine is that whether leaders of both parties set aside their ego to work for the victory of their respective candidates or not, the condition of JD(S) is much better than the faction-ridden Congress as it is controlled by former PM and JD(S) National President H.D. Deve Gowda and his sons. Officially, there are three factions within the district Congress training guns against each other.

These factions are led by Kalpana Siddaraju, former MLA, Madhu Madegowda, former MLC and Gurucharan. Those groups have become active after former legislator from Nelamangala, Mr L.R. Shivaramegowda was given the ticket to contest on the Congress symbol much to the surprise of everyone. It is an open secret that Mr Shivaramegowda was responsible for the defeat of Mr M.H. Ambareesh, after he contested on a BJP ticket.

As far as JD(S) is concerned, sitting MLC, Mr B Ramakrishna and Nagamangala MLA N Cheluvarayaswamy first revolted against giving the ticket to Mr Appaji Gowda, a close relative of Mr Deve Gowda. However, they took a U-turn after being summoned by Mr Gowda. The duo declared that they would work for the victory of Mr Appajigowda. It remains to be seen how far they will keep their word.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle that anything can happen two to three days before polling. The solace for JD(S) is that it has four legislators in the district and is in the driver's seat in the zilla panchayat and several gram panchayats.

The total number of voters in Mandya constituency is 4,200 and a majority of them owe allegiance to JD(S).

HDK ‘kills’ the JD(S) revolt in Kolar seat

In big relief for film producer turned politician and JD(S) candidate for Kolar-Chikkaballapura constituency C.R. Manohar, party state president H.D Kumaraswamy has succeeded in quelling the rebel problem in the party.

Many senior leaders of the JD(S) including former agriculture minister Srinivas Gowda had opposed the party’s move to field Manohar , claiming that there are other eligible candidates in the party. They alleged that without taking the opinion of party workers, the candidate was chosen. K Y Nanjegowda, a ticket aspirant, filed his nomination paper as independent which could have split the party votes.

However, Manohar succeeded in solving the problem by approaching Mr Kumaraswamy and putting pressure on him to rein in the rebel. Fearing that if Nanjegowda contested as a JD(S) rebel, many opponents of Kolar Congress MP K.H. Muniyappa may extend support to him, Mr Manohar, who is close to Kumaraswamy, met him and requested him to ensure Mr Nanjegowda did not contest. Mr Kumaraswamy convinced Nanjegowda and former minister Srinivas Gowda following which Nanjegowda withdrew from the fray and supported Manohar.

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