SIRA : The heat of the poll campaign went several notches up in Sira assembly constituency on Thursday as the leaders of the Big 3 aggressively campaigned for their party candidates. The constituency saw Congress leader Siddaramaiah, JDS patriarch H D Deve Gowda and BJP MP Pratap Simha and national president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and MP Tejasvi Surya woo voters ahead of the bypoll.
Former chief minister and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah campaigned at villages dominated by the Kuruba community. Most of these villages -- Kadajjanapalyva, Hunasehalli, Yaravarahalli and Hosuru – were handpicked. Trying to consolidate the Kuruba votes, over 16,000, for Congress candidate T B Jayachandra, Siddaramaiah pointed out that the JD(S) denied the party ticket to Kalkere Ravikumar, who had subsequently joined the Congress, and the BJP to B K Manjunath, both hailing from the Kuruba community.
The rallies saw good response. “Our gram panchayat is a Congress stronghold and has been giving the Congress candidate victory in every election,” said Shashidhar, a Kunchitiga Vokkaliga leader, at Hunasehalli. Said Latha Thimmarayai, who runs a petty shop, “When my son Rangaraju passed the SSLC exams with flying colours, he received a reward from Siddaramaiah at our community event at Palace Grounds in Bengaluru some years ago. Now my daughter Nagasri who is part of the ‘poornakumbha’ welcome will get a chance to see him today.”
At Kadajjanapalya, when a supporter asked Siddaramaiah to remove his mask, the latter advised him to wear the mask. Meanwhile, former CM and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy called on Sri Nanjavadutha at Spatikapuri Mutt at Pattanayakahalli and sought the seer’s blessings.
A motorbike rally led by Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, which enthused the workers, culminated into a huge gathering at Baraguru town which was addressed by Gowda. Gowda who is campaigning for Ammajamma will camp here till November 1. Not to be outdone, BJP MPs Pratap Simha and Tejasvi Surya held a roadshow in Sira campaigning for Dr Rajesh Gowda. Sira town has considerable minority votes.