BENGALURU: The government’s internal assessment of the bypolls says that Sira Assembly constituency is likely to see either a photo-finish or a narrow win for the Congress, while it will be a virtual walkover for the BJP in the Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency. The assessment, conducted periodically to assess the ground situation, points out that T B Jayachandra of the Congress and Dr Rajesh Gowda of the BJP are in a neck-andneck fight in Sira.
That the BJP is in contention itself is a big gain for the party as it has never crossed 17,000 votes in the constituency, an analyst said. But what could help Dr Rajesh cross the wire in this nail-biting fight will be the formidable government machinery. That is, provided JDS candidat e Ammajamma’s campaigning continues to remain lacklustre and party’s traditional voters press the button in favour of the BJP.
As the situation stands now, she is seen to lose the election. Also, the BJP campaign managers, who are headed by party vice-president and Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra, are actively trying to lure powerful local Congress leaders, some of whom have assured the party of support.
The BJP is targeting JDS leaders too and if they put their force behind the ruling party, the Lotus is likely to bloom for the first time in Sira. BJP campaign strategists feel that there is a factor of antiincumbency against Jayachandra, who has won four times from the Kallambella constituency which was merged and turned into the Sira constituency after delimitation.
From Sira, he has won twice, but lost the last election to B S Sathyanarayana, whose death has led to the bypoll now. Analysts pointed out that the BJP is not new to traditional Congress and JDS voters here as they elected G S Basavaraj of the saffron party in the last parliamentary elections.
Basavaraj was helped by Congress leaders Muddahanume Gowda and K N Rajanna, who were miffed that the seat was given away to the coalition’s common candidate from the JDS and former PM H D Deve Gowda. In RR Nagar, former MLA Munirathna Naidu, who had won the seat from the Congress in the last election and is now contesting on a BJP ticket, is way ahead of Congress candidate H Kusuma. The report states that the BJP should win by 25,000-30,000 winning margin, unless Kusuma, the wife of late IAS officer D K Ravi, pulls a rabbit out of the hat.