Bengaluru: While poll predictions by the All India Congress Committee, state intelligence and a private firm have all given the Congress the thumbs down in the Nanjangud byelections, it is believed that Mr Kalale Keshavamurthy, who quit the Janata Dal (Secular) to join the party recently, has a better chance of winning from the constituency than other Congress hopefuls.
Mr Keshavamurthy's arrival has been an upset particularly for Public Works Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa, whose son, Sunil Bose, seemed to be in with a good chance of being fielded in the bypoll not too long ago.
So convinced was the minister that the ticket would go to his son that he diverted government projects worth Rs 600 crore to Nanjangud to bolster his chances.
But several factors worked against him, including his poor rating with the public in the constituency, going by sources.
It is also said that the Kuruba supporters of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were not keen on Mr Bose being counted among the emerging young political leaders of Mysuru district when his own younger son, Dr S Yatindra, was trying to find a foothold as a political leader in his own right here.
“Dr Yatindra, who stepped into the shoes of the Chief Minister's older son, Rakesh, after he passed away, is now seen as one of the most decent heirs of any politician or Chief Minister anywhere. He may look soft, but is very intelligent and is as much committed to politics as he was to his medical profession.
A simple man with concern for the poor, he visits 10 villages a day and is likely to be fielded from Varuna constituency in the 2018 assembly elections. But if Mr Bose was fielded in Nanjangud he could have become senior in the district even if he was defeated and this is something that the Chief Minister's supporters are wary of,” said sources.
