BENGALURU: It will be a fight between five Manjunaths and three Sureshs in the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha constituency. While all eyes will be on the “prestige battle” between Congress’ DK Suresh and BJP’s Dr CN Manjunath, others like C Manjunath, N Manjunath, Manjunath K and CN Manjunath as well as S Suresh and MN Suresh have also thrown their hat in the ring and are vying for attention from voters in the constituency.
This, however, is not the story of just one constituency and is not happening for the first time. In Chikkaballapura, where former minister and BJP leader Dr K Sudhakar is contesting against Raksha Ramaiah of the Congress, there are two other Sudhakars. Both D Sudhkar and K Sudhakar are contesting as independents.
In Udupi-Chikkamagluru constituency, BJP’s Kota Shrinivas Poojary has Suresh Poojary and Supreeth Poojary in his company. Similarly, Congress Muddahanumegowda will be fighting for votes against similar-sounding Hanumaiah.
In Bengaluru North where BJP has fielded Union Minister Shobha Kharandlaje, there is an independent candidate called Shobha and a male candidate Shobhan Babu V. Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan will also duel it out with independent candidate Mukthar Ali Khan in the constituency.
An independent candidate by the name of Yadurappa has entered the fray from Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency from where the BJP has fielded scion of erstwhile Mysuru royal family Yaduveer Wadiyar.
Interestingly, a person called HD Revanna is contesting from Mandya and Hassan Lok Sabha constituencies where JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy and former minister HD Revanna’s son Prajwal are contesting, respectively.
A senior politician said many of them will withdraw from the fray when they are given money. “They might not damage the prospects of the winning candidates, but they will create confusion,” he added.