Like in Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency, primary election in Bangalore North scheduled to be held on Thursday, is petering out to be a farce with top Congress leaders threatening to defeat the very purpose of the experiment.
Former MP C Narayanaswamy, Rajiv Gowda, IIMB faculty and son of former Assembly Speaker late M Venkatappa, former MLA N L Narendra Babu and KPCC Secretary G C Chandrashekhar are in the fray.
There are 476 voters. Barring Narendra Babu, all are Vokkaliga candidates.
There were allegations of “inducements” offered by a few aspirants.
Narayanaswamy who recently joined the Congress from JD(S) is said to be backed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah while Chandrashekhar is backed by KPCC President G Parameshwara. Narayanaswamy is a career politician and has been contesting the polls for over last 20 years.
He, however, won only once from Bangalore North defeating former Union Minister C K Jaffer Sharief.
Narendra Babu felt that he has a good chance to win if voters are left to themselves to decide on their choice. “Several bigwigs in the party are actively influencing the voters favouring particular candidates,” he alleged without naming neither candidates nor those backing them.
One of the voters, a block-level party leader on condition of anonymity, expressing cynicism on its outcome, said, “Primaries are no different from other elections and are influenced by money, muscle and caste considerations.”