TUMAKURU: In an interesting twist, two BJP MLAs in Tumkur admitted that their party candidate stands little chance, thanks to coalition candidate and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda. Chikkanayakanahalli BJP MLA J C Madhuswamy, who is a Lingayat leader, said, “When we put together Congress and JD(S) traditional voters, their numbers are at least 30,000 more than that of BJP’s. Yet, we tried our best to lessen the margin.”
He said that in 2018 assembly elections, JD(S) lost to him in Chikkanayakanahalli only because Congress fielded a stronger candidate. Chikkanayakanahalli has been a JD(S) bastion otherwise.BJP MLA from Turuvekere, Masale Jayaram, concurs. The Vokkaliga leader said that it will be a daunting task for BJP to win in his assembly constituency too.
It was after a gap of 15 long years that BJP’s Jayaram won by a small margin in the 2018 assembly polls. Traditionally, Turuvekere is a JD(S) bastion too where fans have erected Deve Gowda’s statue in the town.
BJP sources said it’s candidate from Tumkur, G S Basavaraju, has pinned his hopes on Tumakuru city assembly constituency which is represented by his son and MLA G B Jyotiganesh, and Tiptur segment represented by B C Nagesh, a Brahmin who had won the 2018 assembly polls with help from Lingayat and SC/STs votes.
Apart from Tumakuru city and Tiptur, if Gubbi assembly constituency too backs Basavaraju, then there are chances that the BJP might win. Gubbi has a sizable population of Lingayats than Vokkaligas. Also, the assembly segments of Madhugiri and Koratagere show signs of an equal fight between Basavaraju and Deve Gowda, sources said.