BENGALURU: Congress on Sunday announced Umesh Meti and Samarth Mallikarjun as the party candidates for Assembly by-polls to Bagalkot and Davangere South assembly constituencies, respectively. While Umesh Meti is the son of former minister late H Y Meti, Samarth Mallikarjun is the grandson of former MLA late Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies were necessitated following the deaths of Congress MLAs H Y Meti, a Kuruba leader and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, a Veerashiva Lingayath strong man, respectively.
Samarth, the son of horticulture minister SS Mallikarjun and Davanagere MP Prabha Mallikarjun, had filed his nomination papers on Friday, much before the high command took a call.
He will file the papers again on Monday with the 'B form' of the party, likely in the company of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Muslims, who make up a sizable voter base of over 75,000 compared to the Lingayats, Samarth's community, had staked a claim for the seat. However, the party's high command decided to field a family member of the deceased legislator.
The community claimed that Shamanuru had promised to vacate the seat for them when he retired from electoral politics.
On Saturday, AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala met with CM Siddaramaiah, DCM D K Shivakumar, and Muslim leaders, including Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan. The meeting resolved the crisis by promising adequate Muslim representation in the Congress government, including upcoming MLC and Rajya Sabha nominations.
The Bagalkote seat too saw stiff competition from Meti's children, which was finally resolved by CM Siddaramaiah.
The Congress party now faces the challenge of retaining both seats it won in the 2023 general elections, as the bypoll results are seen as an indicator for future polls in Karnataka, including the 2028 Assembly elections. Analysts noted there was no sympathy wave for Meti’s family in Bagalkot or for Samarth in Davanagere South. Both Meti and Shamanuru, who had long political careers, passed away due to age-related ailments.
The BJP has fielded veteran leader and former MLA Veeranna Charatimath from Bagalkot. He had lost the seat to Meti by a narrow margin in 2023. For Davanagere South, the party is experimenting with an ST Nayaka leader, Srinivas T Dasakariyappa, aiming at polarising SC, ST, OBCs and Hindu votes.
The BJP could cash in on the anti-incumbency factor working against the ruling Congress party government. Whereas the Congress is banking on the five guarantees it has delivered, especially Rs 2,000 for the woman head of each family per month. The ruling party, in that sense, has an edge over the opposition.
The JD(S) will back its alliance partner BJP, with Union Minister of Steel and heavy industries, H D Kumaraswamy, and his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy, hitting the campaign trail, informed former MLA H S Shivashankar.
