Community politics to play a major role in Chitradurga

BJP and JD(S) candidates are from the Bhovi community

Gulihatti Shekhar.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (Secular) have already finalised their candidates for the Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituency. The BJP is fielding Janardhanswamy, present MP, and the JD(S), the former Minister Gulihatti Shekhar. However, the formal announcement of these candidates is awaited. The Congress, on the other hand, is yet to choose its candidate.

The constituency is reserved for Scheduled Castes and comprises six Assembly segments of Chitradurga and two Assembly segments of Tumkur district.

Since Mr. Janardhanswamy and Mr. Gulihatti Shekhar belong to the Bhovi community, the Congress is focussing on the Madiga community, which has the highest number of voters in the constituency. Of the 14 lakh voters here, nearly 4.3 lakh are Madigas. The major aspirant from the community is B. Tippeswamy, who was defeated in the last general elections. In all probability, the Congress may field him again, as his name has been shortlisted by the screening committee.

Those of who were shortlisted by the Congress screening panel are Mr. Tippeswamy, H. Hanumanthappa, Venkatramanappa and Chandrappa. Since Mr. Venkatramanappa belongs to Tumkur district and Mr. Chandrappa is from Chikmagalur district, their candidature would not be considered if the party high command decides to give preference to local candidates.

In the last elections, the Congress had announced the name of the candidate only a fortnight before the elections, and the leaders and workers had little time to reach out to the voters.

Moreover, the BJP wave in the State was a major contributor to the victory of its party candidate. But this time, things are different as the Congress is in power in the State and it is inevitable for the party to ensure victory of a majority of its candidates to prove its strength. Today, the Congress has five MLAs and two Ministers in the constituency.

Expectations

The voters in the constituency had high expectations of Mr. Janardhanswamy as he had promised to bring considerable changes to the constituency. However, he has very few achievements to his credit, so he will naturally fall back on the Modi wave to propel him.

Whereas the Congress aspirant, Mr. Tippeswamy, claims that he has been organising voters from the grassroots level for the past five years and hopes that the development works taken up by the Congress after coming to power in the State will stand him in good stead.