BENGALURU: With polling for 14 Lok Sabha seats, including the Old Mysuru region, done and dusted on Friday, the political action now shifts to the remaining 14 seats in the northern part of the state.
It will be a straight fight between the Congress and BJP in most of the seats, except in Shivamogga, where former minister KS Eshwarappa has joined the fray, and Davanagere, where Vinaykumar, an educationist, could tilt the balance. Both hail from the Kuruba community. With no candidates in the contest, JDS will play a supporting role for alliance partner BJP.
Eshwarappa, who was suspended from the BJP, poses a challenge to former CM B S Yediyurappa’s son and sitting MP BY Vijayendra. Vinaykumar, who expected a Congress ticket, is likely to create trouble for Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s daughter-in-law, Prabha, wife of Minister S S Mallikarjun.There are a number of big leaders whose prestige is at stake: former chief ministers Basavaraj Bommai in Haveri and Jagadish Shettar in Belagavi, and Union ministers Prahlad Joshi in Hubballi-Dharwad and Bhagawant Khuba in Bidar.
In Kalaburagi, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge’s son-in-law, Radhakrishna Doddamani is testing the political waters. In Ballari, Congress has pitted Sandur MLA E Tukaram against former minister B Sriramulu.
Young leaders are taking on veterans: Mrinal Hebbalkar, son of Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, is up against Shettar in Belagavi, while Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre’s son Sagar Khandre faces Khuba in Bidar. Anand Asuti is pitched against Joshi in Dharwad.
The 14 seats going for polls on May 7 are Bagalkot, Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Chikkodi, Davanagere, Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Haveri, Ballari, Koppal, Raichur, Shimoga, and Uttara Kannada.
