Will Pranesh halt Congress run in Chikkamagaluru?

CHIKKAMAGALURU: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominees have never won a Legislative Council seat from the local authorities constituency in Chikkamagaluru so far.

However, party leaders are confident that they are now strong enough to halt the run of the Congress in the poll to be held on December 27.

In the first two of the last four MLC polls, K.B. Mallikarjun of Janata Dal and Manjunath also from Janata Dal won the seats in Chikkamagaluru. Later, it was D.M. Putte Gowda (2003) and Gayathri Shantegowda (2009), both from Congress who won the seat.

From the Congress, serving MLC Gayathri Shantegowda has been fielded again while Pranesh, a coffee planter and former Zilla Panchayat member, is the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. Janata Dal Secular (JDS) has fielded Ranjan Ajitkumar.

Between BJP and Cong

There is talk in political circles that it would be a direct fight between the BJP and Congress nominees.

Giving reasons for the BJP nominees tasting defeat in the MLC poll, BJP district president Rajappa told Deccan Chronicle on Thursday, “It is because we could not reach the village level that we suffered successive defeats. But, now, we have reached the villages and the party’s numbers have swelled in taluk panchayats and the City Municipal Council. Bharatiya Janata Party backed candidates have won many seats in gram panchayats which would be beneficial to the party nominee.”

A confident Rajappa says that there are about 2,547 voters in Chikkamagaluru and added that the BJP nominee would bag about 1,350 plus votes to romp home.

He anticipates that the victory margin between the BJP nominee and his nearest rival would be around 200 votes.

The Congress camp in Chikkamagaluru is also confident of retaining the seat. Congress president Vijaykumar says, “We also have enough numbers to win the poll.”