The uncertainty over Congress tickets for Krishnaraja and Chamaraja constituencies in Mysuru has finally ended with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s staunch loyalists former MLA M.K. Somashekar and K. Harish Gowda getting the tickets. The candidates – Mr. Somashekar for Krishnaraja and Mr. Gowda for Chamaraja - were cleared in the third list that was announced on Saturday.
K Harish Gowda who got the Congress ticket for Chamaraja in Mysuru. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO
The two seats witnessed intense lobbying for the tickets and the high command had put on hold the announcement for the two seats in the first and second list, triggering anxiety among the aspirants besides causing speculations in the political circles on the candidates for the key seats which had been won by the BJP in 2018.
Out of 11 seats in Mysuru, the BJP had won in three, including Krishnaraja and Chamaraja, besides Nanjangud. “The Congress is keen to wrest the seats from the BJP and therefore it took time to decide on the candidates,” a party source said.
Former MLA Vasu, who was optimistic of fighting the polls as the party candidate in Chamaraja, has been denied the ticket.
Mr. Vasu’s son, Kaveesh Gowda, got the BJP ticket to take on two-time JD(S) MLA G.T. Deve Gowda, who is aiming a hat-trick, in Chamundeshwari constituency.
Former Chief Minister M .Veerappa Moily, during his recent visit to Mysuru, had expressed confidence in Mr. Vasu, one of his close aides, getting the ticket. Mr. Vasu had the strong backing of Mr. Moily.
The JD(S) is yet to announce its candidate for Chamaraja. K.V. Mallesh is the party candidate for Krishnaraja.
What will be the next move of Mr. Vasu? Will he still consider fighting the polls? Mr. Vasu is expected to divulge his next moves on Sunday as he has called a press conference at 11 a.m .
Mr Vasu and Mr. Harish Gowda were lobbying for the tickets, putting forth their strengths. Mr. Vasu, who contested as a Congress candidate, and Mr. Gowda as JD(S) rebel in 2018, lost the polls to BJP’s Nagendra, who is seeking re-election. After quitting the JD(S), Mr. Gowda joined the Congress hoping to fight the 2023 polls on the Congress ticket which he managed to achieve.
Despite his son being fielded by the BJP, Mr. Vasu was confident of getting the ticket as he had claimed that his son’s action will not pose a hurdle to his aspiration.
Chamaraja is dominated by Vokkaliga votes and both the Congress and the BJP have fielded the candidates belonging to the community.
In Krishnaraja, besides Mr. Somashekar, Naveen Kumar and Pradeep Kumar, a former councillor, were the Congress ticket aspirants. Though the constituency is dominated by Brahmins, Lingayats are also in sizable numbers, and there were demands that Congress field a Lingayat this election. In the end, the high command chose to field Mr. Somashekar, who had already started the campaign confident of getting the ticket.
