Congress MLC Muniyuru Dasappashetty Lakshmi Narayana, a native of Turuvekere in Tumkuru district, plans to contest Assembly polls from Belagavi South constituency.
Mr. Lakshmi Narayana is the president of the Federation of Weavers Associations in the State. He has served as the Karnataka Handloom Development Corporation chairman during the chief ministership of B.S. Yeddyurappa.
He later switched parties and became a Congress member a few years ago. He spends most of his time in Belagavi South constituency, wherein a large chunk of weavers are believed to reside.
The district administration has allotted Mr. Lakshmi Narayana the taluk Samarthya Soudha building in Angol to set up the MLC’s office. He has rented a house in the old city and keeps meeting community organisations, apart from appearing in party events.
Workers assaulted
At a recent BJP meeting, former Abhay Patil of the BJP and his associates allegedly assaulted BJP workers P.D. Dhotre and Sunil Chougula. Mr. Lakshmi Narayana met the injured in the district hospital. He also supported a march by the weavers association demanding action against Mr. Patil, the next day.
Mr. Lakshmi Narayana said he is trying to contest from Belagavi as he wants to serve the State in what ever capacity he can. He said he hopes to build a coalition of caste groups in his favour and not the weavers.
Some party workers however, don’t seem happy about Mr Lakshmi Narayana’s ambitious foray into Belagavi politics.
A group of Congress workers, led by Shankar Hanumanthappa Munavalli, accused Mr. Lakshmi Narayana of being an RSS mole in the Congress. He is an active RSS worker, and has day-to-day contact with BJP leaders like B.S. Yeddyurappa and Shobha Karandlaje. Such people don’t accept Congress’s inclusive ideology and cannot live by it. If the party does not stop him, the voters will, he said.
Another Congress leader said Mr. Lakshmi Narayana seemed inspired by Ms. Umashree, who switched from rural Bengaluru to Terdal constituency Bagalkot district and won.
“But Belagavi is not Terdal. Terdal did not have any able ticket claimant in the Congress. But there are many senior leaders in Belagavi South. Importing a leader would dampen our morale,” said a district Congress committee office-bearer.
