BALLARI: Facing up against Congress candidate V S Ugrappa was not an easy task as it was widely accepted that the Ballari MP would win a second time. However, Y Devendrappa, the BJP candidate, managed to prove everyone, including political pundits wrong with his victory. While the Modi wave is a strong contributor to the victory, there is no denying the fact that the candidate himself put in a lot of effort as well. After all, Ugrappa had won with a margin of 2.4 lakh votes just a few months ago in the Lok Sabha bypolls and Devendrappa was not a popular candidate.
Having completed his primary education, the lack of a degree led to attacks on his lack of literacy and people mocked him by calling him ignorant and incapable of being a parliamentarian. However, he did not lose his cool and chose to reply with vachanas of Basavanna and Sarvajna or linking his campaign to farming activities, with wit and humour.
Denied a ticket by the Congress, he was welcomed by the BJP. Having begun his political career as a Congress grassroots worker, Devendrappa went on to become vice president of the Ballari Zilla Panchayat in the year 1995. He is a staunch follower of former Congress leader M P Prakash and has served as the president of various local co-operative sectors and rural-based financial institutes in Arasikere.
After his Lok Sabha win, Devendrappa is already working on improving his constituency. He has been interacting with villagers within Ballari with an assurance to resolve their problem. Having identified himself as a farmer, he has been assuring the farming community of adequate water for irrigation.
He says that his top priority is desilting of the Tungabhadra dam, so that around 33 TMC of water which is currently going to waste, can be held at the dam. He hopes to highlight Ballari’s issues before the PM. His victory has been described as a silent reply to Congress leader Shivakumar, who had publicly dismissed him as not being a match to Ugrappa.