HUBBALI: With fielding veteran Basavaraj Horatti, the BJP is projecting the election for West Teachers' constituency as one-sided but in reality, it does not look so as the Congress and JD(S) parties adopting every trick to deny an easy victory to the saffron party. Horatti also looks confident of a big win as his influence among voters is backed by the huge election machinery of the BJP.
While the Congress party has fielded Basavaraj Gurikar, the Gowdas' party has given the ticket to Shrishaila Gadadinni. Both are one-time close associates of Horatti, but parted ways with him because of their personal ambition. A beauty of Horatti's seven victories in a row is that he was challenged by his close associates, except for the first two elections, and won them most convincingly.
Since 1980, with his first victory, the winning margin of Horatti went on increasing except in 2010. As the BJP was in power then, it fought hard. Until then, the election for the seat was fought with internal adjustment as Horatti had a cordial relationship with leaders of the Congress and BJP. The then chief minister B S Yediyurappa's diktat was put both Jagadish Shettar and Pralhad Joshi in a fix, say political observers.
Even in 2016 also, the BJP initially gave a good fight by fielding Ma Nagaraj, but last minutes changes in the stand of some leaders denied victory to the party, said a BJP leader, who refused to be named. Since the Horatti has compromised with the challenger itself it is being hoped that the winning streak of the veteran parliamentarian might not be disturbed, he said and added, a large-scale disappointment was there against Horatti.
Gurikar, who headed the State unit of the primary teachers association, and Gadadinni, who worked closely in the last five victories of Horatti, want to exploit this discontent among voters. As the political opponent both these candidates accused Horatti of not fighting for the cause of teachers, but Horatti says, in reality, he was always a voice of teachers inside and outside the House, and even bitter enemies also did not agree over such accusations. But still, several issues are haunting the teachers.
After becoming chairman of the Legislative Council, though distances himself from voters but raised teachers' issues with the government and even held meetings with the chief minister and education minister, Horatti's supporters argue. But Gadadinni alleged that he (Horatti) had done nothing during this current term for the teachers' welfare and to resolve the issues faced by educational institutions.
On the other hand, Gurikar said, if Horatti was serious about the welfare of the teachers he could have addressed the issue that are haunting the teachers while he was a minister in the Kumaraswamy government. He has fallen behind the power, not the issue of teachers, he charged.
However, the BJP has built the campaign around Horatti and his experience in such a way that his victory is "invincible" and the election is being fought only to know the victory margin. Moreover, his campaign this time was more visible as the entire leadership of the party, including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, has stood behind him. But Horatti has adopted a cautious approach and left no stone unturned in convincing the voters.