Bengaluru: While BJP workers at ground zero are exuding confidence they will bag both Nanjangud and Gundlupet assembly seats that go to polls on April 9, the state intelligence department has predicted the opposite – a victory of Congress candidates in both the seats.
It is an assessment that the ruling Congress is also making in public, though not so much in private. Battered by the twin blows of losing Dalit strongman V. Srinivasaprasad and Vokkaliga leader S.M. Krishna to the BJP, the Congress is hoping to shift the goalposts by attacking Prime Minister Modi and his hand-picked representative in Lucknow, Yogi Adityanath to consolidate Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Ahinda vote bank.
The BJP leaders’ confidence stems from hitting the campaign trail before the ruling Congress began their campaign in earnest, with insiders indicating that they were buoyed by a positive response from the electorate. As the campaign enters its final leg, with only nine days to go, the saffron party has
backtracked just a bit by saying it is completely confident of winning Nanjangud seat where former minister Srinivasaprasad was contesting on the BJP ticket.
As for Gundlupet, the BJP still believes it has a 50:50 chance, especially if the sympathy evoked by Congress candidate and widow of the late minister H.S. Mahadeva Prasad, Geetha Mahadeva Prasad, fails to give her the necessary boost.
Analysts said they tend to discount the assessment of the state intelligence department that favours the ruling party as it is based on inputs from local police staff and media. The BJP is basing its views on reports from party workers who started the groundwork well in advance by going through the electoral list, and analyzing voting patterns in previous elections and votes secured by parties, booth-wise.
