BENGALURU: Despite BJP already announcing educationist KM Suresh, a Lingayat, as its candidate for the biennial elections to South East Graduate Council seat, former MLC YA Narayananaswamy, a Vokkaliga, continues to lobby for the ticket.
Narayananaswamy is trying hard to convince the BJP leadership, including Assembly Opposition Leader R Ashoka, that Suresh is a greenhorn and the seat represented by Chidananda Gowda could slip away, allowing Congress to win the seat for the first time, sources said.
With Suresh, BJP has given three Council seats to Lingayats -- North East Teachers’ constituency to Shashil G Namoshi and West Graduates to SV Sankanur. The Bengaluru teachers’ constituency has been left to BJP’s alliance partner JDS.
In the South East Graduates’ seat, Vokkaligas constitute over 50,000 votes and Lingayats 35,000, of the 1.9 lakh total electorate in five districts of Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Davanagere. The constituency has 35,000 OBCs, 22,000 STs, 50,000 SCs and 7,000 others, sources said. With Congress announcing a novice, Shashi Hulkuntemath, a Veerashiva-Lingayat from Tumakuru, as the candidate, Lingayat votes may split between them.
Hulkuntemath, assisted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s image as an AHINDA leader, could try to garner votes from these communities and also a section of Vokkaligas in Kolar and Chikkaballapur districts through DCM DK Shivakumar, who is a Vokkaliga. Hulkuntemath apparently has an edge over Suresh, who is from Davanagere.
A two-time MLC from the same region but from the teachers’ constituency, Narayananaswamy, is also planning to contest from the seat as an independent if BJP doesn’t change the candidate, sources said. He has won as an independent earlier and has a good rapport with the voters for over a decade, they added.