BENGALURU : As electioneering reached a crescendo, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday hit the campaign trail with the confidence that the BJP would win both RR Nagar and Sira bypolls by a big margin. “The Congress and JDS will be fighting for the second place,” Yediyurappa told The New Indian Express after attending election rallies in Sira.
“There is no competition, and we will win both seats with a big margin,” he said, enthused by the good response for his roadshows and rallies.
The BJP is going all out to win the Sira assembly segment in Tumakuru, a Vokkaliga-dominated constituency that has never been won by the party. In fact, in the 2018 elections, the BJP was not even in contention.
B Sathyanarayana from JDS won the seat defeating his nearest rival, Congress candidate T B Jayachandra by a margin of over 10,000 votes.
Jayachandra is contesting the bypoll as a Congress candidate against BJP’s Rajesh Gowda and JDS candidate Ammajamma, wife of late JDS MLA Sathyanarayana.
“Winning Sira will prove that the BJP can win any seat in the state,” the CM said, emphasising BJP’s push to gain ground in constituencies it had not done well earlier. In Sira, the CM promised Hemavathy river water to Madaluru tank, a long-pending demand.
“The CM’s assurance will have a big impact,” said BJP General Secretary and MLC Ravi Kumar, who views the bypoll as a direct contest between BJP and Congress.
The BJP has centered its strategy on micro-managing caste equations. At the same time, it is pushing the development agenda too, promising drinking water, good roads and a constituency free of huts.
Though the bypolls will not impact his government’s stability, Yediyurappa is going all out to win both seats to reassert his leadership and boost the government’s confidence.
He will address election rallies in RR Nagar on Saturday.
‘Will win both seats’
How was the response to public rallies?
Response was better than our expectation. I had not seen such good response even in Shikaripura.
How confident are you of winning the Sira seat?
We will win Sira with a margin of over 25,000 votes.
What about RR Nagar?
We will comfortably win with a margin of over 40,000 votes. In both the seats, Congress and JDS will be fighting for second place. There is no competition.
How important are the bypoll results to you as it will not have any impact on the government’s stability?
That (impact on the government’s stability) is not an issue, but as a political party, all elections are important. All of us are working to win both seats.
Congress and JDS leaders are criticising the government’s handling of various issues from flood situation to Covid.
Let them talk about any issue, people will respond to them in the elections.