Former MP C.H. Vijayshankar’s imminent return to the BJP fold is expected to come as a setback for former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was recently appointed as Leader of the Opposition of the Legislative Assembly.
For, Mr. Siddaramaiah went to the extent of risking the Congress’ alliance with its then coalition partner JD(S) by bargaining hard for Mysuru Lok Sabha seat during the seat-sharing talks.
The Mysuru Lok Sabha seat with a substantial population of Vokkaligas had emerged one of the favourites of the JD(S), which was hoping to field former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda from there. But, Mr. Siddaramaiah, who was still smarting under the defeat from Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency in the 2018 polls, insisted on retaining Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency for the Congress and fielding his follower as the candidate.
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Even if the JD(S) had ceded the seat to the Congress, it was in the best interests of the party to field a Vokkaliga in the constituency, pointed out a few Congress leaders.
However, Mr. Siddaramaiah’s choice was Mr. Vijayshankar, a Kuruba, who had quit the BJP in 2017 and joined the Congress ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections. Though the former MP claimed that he was joining unconditionally, he had said that Mr. Siddaramaiah had assured to consider his candidature for the Lok Sabha elections.
Despite being a new entrant to the party, Mr. Vijayshankar received all-round support from the Congress leaders in the region as he enjoyed Mr. Siddaramaiah’s backing. Yet, he lost the elections to the BJP’s Pratap Simha by more than 1.38 lakh votes.
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Now, barely six months after the Lok Sabha poll results, Mr. Vijayshankar has begun showing impatience to return to the BJP, demoralising the Congress cadres, who had thrown their lot behind him in the elections. “It’s clearly a slap on the face of Mr. Siddaramaiah,” said a Congress leader, adding that it was up to the former Chief Minister to prevent Mr. Vijayashankar from quitting the party.
As a last ditch effort, a delegation of Congress leaders called on Mr. Vijayshankar at his residence in Mysuru on Sunday and appealed to him to continue in the Congress. The delegation was led by former MP R. Dhruvanarayan.