The Hindu : Krishna switches seat to Chamarajpet

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 01, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Krishna switches seat to Chamarajpet

By A. Jayaram

BANGALORE, MARCH 31. The guessing game is over about the constituencies from where two of the political bigwigs of the State will be contesting the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

The Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, has shifted from his home constituency of Maddur in Mandya district to Chamarajpet in Bangalore. So also the former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (S) supremo, H.D. Deve Gowda. He will defend his `away from home' Lok Sabha constituency of Kanakapura and not contest from his native constituency of Hassan. The two have tasted defeat on their home terrain. No member of the family of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, will be contesting the Lok Sabha election from the State. The hope in the hearts of a section of Congressmen that Priyanka Vadra, daughter of Rajiv Gandhi, would contest from Bellary has been belied. Earlier, the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, had decided against contesting from Bellary from where she won in 1999.

A clear picture of those contesting from the constituencies going to the polls in the first phase on April 20 has emerged. The last date for filing nominations for those constituencies ended today. The day also saw the acceptance of nomination papers for those seats from where the elections will be held in the second phase (April 26).

After much dilly-dallying, the Congress decided today to field one of its MLCs, M. Krishnappa (popularly called `Layout' Krishnappa) from the prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha Constituency. For want of a suitable candidate to take on the BJP State president and former Union Minister, H.N. Ananth Kumar, the Congress had for long considered fielding the film star of yesteryear, B. Saroja Devi, and the reigning star, Vishnuvardhan, for the seat. The Congress was looking for a suitable Vokkaliga or Brahmin candidate. Mr. Krishnappa is a Vokkaliga. The State Congress had invited Ms. Gandhi and her two children to contest from any constituency of their choice in the State. However, it had expected that they would contest from Bellary or Bangalore South. The State Congress leaders had calculated that if Ms. Vadra were to contest from Bangalore South, it would confine Mr. Ananth Kumar to the constituency and hamper his campaigning in other parts of the State. The Congress leaders had thought that if any member of Rajiv Gandhi's family contested from the State, it would boost the prospects of the party candidates.

What is of interest is that the Congress has rejected the candidature of its member in the dissolved Lok Sabha from Bellary, Kolur Basavanagouda, and opted for the former MP from there, K.C. Kondaiah, who had made way for Ms. Gandhi in 1999.

Last night, the AICC went back on its decision with regard to two Assembly candidates. The Tourism Minister, J. Alexander, who had been denied the nomination earlier in the day, was selected to contest from Bharatinagar in Bangalore late in the evening. The former minister, K.J. George, who had been selected earlier was dropped. A similar exercise was done with regard to the Shantinagar (Scheduled Caste) seat. The AICC decided to field the member of the dissolved Assembly, M. Muniswamy, instead of V. Shankar who had been selected earlier. It is of interest that the two constituencies are segments of the Bangalore North Lok Sabha seat for which the party has renominated C.K. Jaffer Sharief.

JD(S) nominees

Our New Delhi Special Correspondent reports:

The Janata Dal (Secular) has announced the nomination of the following for the Lok Sabha election (the constituencies are mentioned against their names): Chandramani Jargo (Outer Manipur), Kripal Singh Kundu (Sonipat, Haryana), Gaurishanker Tripathi (Salempur, Uttar Pradesh), K.S. Ganesh Rao (Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh), Subba Rayadu (Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh), and I.D. Akhei Achumi (from a constituency in Nagaland).

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