BENGALURU: The bypoll to the Basavakalayana Assembly constituency in Bidar promises to be an intense, all-out fight between the BJP, which has been winning the by-elections with ease in the recent past, and the Congress, which was holding the seat.There is such gravity attached to this seat that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra and former chief minister Dharam Singh’s son Vijay Singh are being touted as the likely candidates from the BJP and Congress.
The bypoll has been necessitated by the death of MLA Narayan Rao in September 2020.The saffron party started poll preparations here soon after Sira and RR Nagar Assembly bypolls. Vijayendra, who is the BJP state vicae-president and one of the key architects of bypoll victories, visited Basavakalyana in November 2020 and has been touring the constituency regularly. Though both Yediyurappa and Vijayendra have denied in public that Vijayendra could be the candidate, party insiders say that the CM is indeed keen on getting his son the ticket.
With an eye on the bypoll, the chief minister last year announced the Maratha Development Board and allocated Rs 50 crore to it. The obvious target is the Maratha community, which has a considerable population in the constituency. Not just the Marathas, the BJP government is also trying to woo the Lingayat voters by calling for a detailed project report for the construction of Anubhava Mantapa in Basavakalyana, 15 months after the nod was given. The chief minister is visiting Basavakalyana on Wednesday for the foundation laying ceremony.
“In 2018, Vijayendra’s name was doing the rounds to contest from the Varuna Assembly constituency, but later it was dropped. However, in the last one-and-a-half years, Vijayendra is being projected as the mastermind behind victories at KR Pete in Mandya and Sira in Tumakuru bypolls. Local BJP leaders too want Vijayendra to contest from the constituency,” said a BJP leader, on condition of anonymity.
The Congress is hunting for a suitable candidate who can retain the seat. The names of late Narayan Rao’s wife and Vijay Singh are on top of the list. KPCC working president Saleem Ahmed said that they have constituted a committee under Eshwar Khandre to look at bypoll preparations.