BS Anand Singh to field his wife if Supreme Court order goes against him

Ballari: With the announcement of the Vijayanagar (Hosapete) byelection, disqualified legislator B.S. Anand Singh, who has won from the constituency three times in a row since 2008, is hoping to try his luck again from the assembly constituency.

But should the Supreme Court verdict on the former Speaker's order disqualifying him along with the other 16 Congress-JD(S) legislators, who helped topple the last coalition government, go against him, he could field his wife, Lakshmi, from the constituency, according to party sources.

Although Mr Singh had at first considered fielding his 24- year- old son, Sidharth Singh in his place, his age doesn't qualify him to contest the by-poll, they explain. The BJP leadership has assured the disqualified MLAs that should the Supreme Court rule against them, it is open to fielding their relatives in the bypolls that have become necessary following their resignations from the state assembly to help bring down the Kumaraswamy government.

Mr Singh is going all out to retain Hosapete by backing the creation of a new Vijayanagar district out of Ballari despite stiff opposition from health minister, B Sriramulu and other BJP legislators of the district.

His demand for Vijayanagar district is seen as a last resort owing to his dwindling political clout in the constituency. Despite his manoeuvring, local Sangh Parivar leaders and BJP workers have openly opposed his candidature, and are demanding that the party field Mr H R Gaviyappa ,who was defeated by Mr Singh in the last assembly poll.

Meanwhile, the Congress is in a fix as former MLAs, Santosh Lad and Surya Narayana Reddy, have reportedly refused to contest the by-poll. While local Congress leaders were said to be open to the idea of fielding Mr Gaviyappa should he return to the party, he has turned his back on it, according to sources.

Some party leaders now want to field former Ballari MP, VS Ugrappa and he could emerge as the Congress candidate, say sources.

Although the JD(S) has no strong base in the constituency, it has decided to contest the bypoll too.