SHORAPUR(YADGIR DISTRICT): Shorapur Assembly constituency in Yadgir district will go to bypolls on May 7. The byelection was necessitated following the death of Congress MLA Raja Venkatappa Nayak on February 25.
The fight this time is between debutant Raja Venugopal Nayak, son of the late legislator, and BJP’s Raja Narasimha Nayak, a three-time MLA and a former minister.
The late Raja Venkatappa Nayak was a strong follower of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and entered the Assembly from Shorapur four times — 1994 (as a Karnataka Congress Party candidate), 1999, 2013, and 2023.
Kharge, when he had come to offer condolences following Raja Venkatappa Nayak’s death, had told reporters that he wanted to filed the latter as a Congress candidate from Raichur in the Lok Sabha elections but was disappointed following the legislator’s death.
As Raja Venkatappa Nayak was a popular figure in the political landscape in the region, the Congress decided to filed his elder son, Raja Venugopal Nayak, in the Shorapur bypolls, as the party felt it could ride on the sympathy wave.
A graduate in civil engineering, Raja Venugopal Nayak, is seeking votes from the public, reminding them of the good works done by his father and assuring them that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and work for them.
“The five guarantees implemented by the Siddaramaiah government too could help the Congress in the bypolls,” opined a political pundit.
On the other hand, BJP candidate Raja Narasimha Nayak, popularly known as Raju Gowda, is a veteran in electoral politics. He won as a candidate from the Kannada Nadu Party in 2004 and later from the BJP in the 2008 and 2018 Assembly elections. He was a minister from 2011 to 2013 and is the former chairman of the Karnataka Urban Water and Drainage Board.
The BJP leaders contend that they will go to the voters on the basis of development works implemented during the tenure of Raja Narasimha Nayak as an MLA. “We will convince the voters of the development work taken up during Narasimha Nayak’s tenure as MLA. Gundalagera and Devatkal lift irrigation projects and drinking water supply to Shorapur City Municipal Council limits under the Jal Jeevan Mission, and other development works will be showcased to help the BJP defeat the Congress,” said a follower of Raju Gowda.