Bengaluru: The rift in the Mandya Congress over supporting JD(S) candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy is getting worse with each passing day with former Congress legislators, who just a year ago suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the sitting seven JD(S) MLAs in the Assembly polls, find themselves unable to swallow their pride and chant the unity mantra with their sworn enemies.
It remains to be seen how this will impact the polls prospects of Nikhil, who is locked in a bitter battle with Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh who has the backing of the BJP.
The Congress party's 'man for all seasons' and former CM Siddaramaiah did his best to rein in the former MLAs including N. Cheluvarayaswamy and Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda who were in the JD(S) just about a year ago and quit that party disgusted over the patronising attitude of Deve Gowda towards his family members, despite strong links of caste and community. But his efforts to persuade them to campaign for Nikhil, at a meeting Tuesday night came a cropper as they stuck to their guns and took the state leaders to task for suspending their own party workers for the sake of the poll alliance with JD(S).
These leaders who are considered Siddaramaiah loyalists, made no secret of their displeasure over Kumaraswamy's statement calling them 'back-stabbers' and complained that he did not have the basic courtesy to consult them before finalising the Mandya candidate. One of those present warned if there was any talk of disciplinary action against them, they would openly campaign for the actress.
The former legislators were not ready to buy the theory that JD(S) men would not work for the Congress in Mysuru-Kodagu if they did not campaign for Nikhil in Mandya. Their best offer was: We would rather remain neutral than work for Nikhil.
Reflecting their sentiments, one Congress leader, who had unsuccessfully contested the last assembly poll from the district, said, "There is already a wave in favour of Sumalatha across the constituency. Besides BJP and Raitha Sangha workers, Congress workers too are strongly backing her. Campaigning for Nikhil may not be of any use at this point."
How Mandya voted in 2014
Total votes 16,69, 262
Votes polled 11,92,638
- C.S. Puttaraju (JD-S)
- 5,24,370
- Ramya (Congress)
- 5,18,852
- Prof. Shivalingaiah (BJP)
- 86,993
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