BENGALURU: Lifting the veil of suspense on its choice of candidate for Bangalore South constituency, the Congress announced Rajya Sabha MP B K Hariprasad’s name.
His name was being considered for Bangalore North and Dakshina Kannada constituencies. But the Congress’ decision to field him, an OBC- Billava leader, in a Brahmin-Vokkaliga dominant seat has raised curiosity over whether the fight has become easier for the Bharatiya Janata Party now.
Bangalore South has been BJP’s bastion since 1991 with K Venkatagiri Gowda winning the election. Thereafter, late H N Ananth Kumar never lost an election since 1996. Hariprasad contested unsuccessfully against Ananth Kumar from the same seat in 1999.
While the BJP is yet to announce a candidate for the constituency, Ananth Kumar’s wife Tejaswini has expressed willingness to contest from the seat. If the BJP picks her as its candidate, the 65-year-old Hariprasad will run against her as the Congress-JD(S)’ joint candidate.
A Narayana, political analyst and researcher at Azim Premji University, said, “It is a BJP bastion and Hariprasad has made no efforts to cultivate a connect. He is heavyweight no doubt, but the odds may not be in his favour considering that Bangalore South is a quintessential BJP seat that buys into the narrative that the saffron party projects.”
He added that if Congress intended to win, there should have been systematic groundwork as well as a popular candidate. Hariprasad’s name comes at a time the Congress is unable to find a candidate to field in the BJP bastion.
The delay over seat sharing with the JD(S) and the ultimate announcement of candidates made matters worse for the party. Before Hariprasad, senior party leader Ramalinga Reddy, MLC K Govindraj, as well as former MLA Priya Krishna, were considered.
“Reddy refused to contest citing that he was disinterested in national politics. Moreover, he has been disappointed with the Congress for denying him a cabinet berth in the alliance government,” said a source close to the leader. Priya Krishna, a former MLA and son of former Minister Krishnappa, was also considered for the seat given his community background.
The delay in announcing the list is said to have deterred the father-son duo who backed out of the race.
While the party could have fielded Siddaramaiah’s aide K Govindraj, senior leaders of the Congress are said to have decided on a possibly stronger candidate. Given Hariprasad’s prior experience, the Congress is said to have preferred the sitting MP. The BJP, despite having a confident candidate in Tejaswini, is yet to announce a name.