Just two seats for JD(S)?

Bengaluru: The Janata Dal (S), which seemed to be on shaky ground in the byelections,  could, in fact, retain  two of the three seats it lost during ‘Operation Lotus’.

The party is hoping that BJP rebel, Sharath Bachegowda, whom it is backing in Hosakote, will win from the constituency and its own candidate will put up a good fight in Yeshwanthpur against former MLA S.T. Somashekhar.

Before bypolls were declared, the party looked shaky even in its  bastions. But the complexity of the constituencies in the old-Mysuru region and a sense of insecurity among Vokkaliga voters after the fall of the Kumaraswamy government and the arrest of community strongman D.K. Shivakumar, appear to have brought it back into the game.

In K.R. Pete constituency, there was a polarisation of votes against  former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's son, Nikhil, in the recent LS elections, and Ms Sumalatha Ambarish romped home from Mandya parliamentary constituency with a lead of 20,000 votes from this segment. But now, the Congress has fielded former legislator, Chandrashekhar from the constituency, and the  JD(S) is not only banking on its votebank remaining intact but also drawing  minority voters to its side.

In Hunsur , a Vokkaliga candidate needs  the backing of either one of the prominent backward communities or a division in backward community votes. This time, the BJP is trying its luck by appealing to both the Kuruba and Nayak communities, and the Congress has fielded Mr Manjunath , who is from the Arya Vaishya community. Although the BJP looks in a good position, there are many undercurrents in the constituency, where the JD(S) is not banking only on the Vokkaligas to win this time.

The trouble for JD(S) is in Mahalakshmi Layout where disqualified  MLA, Gopalaiah has  strong backing. The party is reportedly planning to field his relative.