The Hindu : Karnataka News : It may not be easy for Bangarappa

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 16, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

It may not be easy for Bangarappa

Special Correspondent

`Defector tag may hit him hard' Bangarappa has faced parliamentary elections from Shimoga five times on the symbol of as many parties.

BANGALORE: The former Chief Minister, S. Bangarappa, might find the going tough in the byelection to the Lok Sabha from Shimoga as his personal support base might not be adequate to win the election.

The Institute of Parliamentary Affairs here on Sunday released a report on the byelection pointing out the adverse factors being faced by Mr. Bangarappa, who is now heading the State unit of the Samajwadi Party.

The fact that he is known for defections is another major factor against him. He has faced parliamentary elections from Shimoga five times on the symbol of as many parties. He won four times and tasted defeat once.

The secretary to the institute, M.C. Shanthamurthy, said that Mr. Bangarappa might find it to difficult to snatch the votes of the Congress, the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) in Shimoga which has a 12 lakh electorate. For both the BJP and the Congress, it is a matter of prestige to defeat Mr. Bangarappa who finds that his own son, Kumar Bangarappa, Congress MLA for Soraba and former Minister, is against his candidature.

The major caste groups in the constituency are generally against him as he is regarded as being a champion of the backward classes.

However, his major asset in the byelection is his popularity. Securing 4,50,097 votes Mr. Bangarappa had won as the BJP candidate from Shimoga in 2004 by a margin of 76,142 votes over his nearest rival, Ayanur Manjunath of the Congress who secured 373952 votes. Mr. Manjunath is again the Congress candidate.

The strength of the BJP in the byelection lies in the fact that its candidates won in six out of the eight Assembly segments in 2004 — Shimoga, Sagar, Shikaripur, Holehonnur (SC), Thirthahalli and Hosanagar.

However, its MLAs for Sagar and Hosanagara have defected to the Bangarappa camp though they continue to be members of the BJP Legislature Party. The BJP has won twice from Shimoga, 1998 (Mr. Manjunath) and 2004 (Mr. Bangarappa) .

The byelection will be a triangular fight among the Congress, the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. The Janata Dal (Secular) fared poorly in the 2004 election with its candidate securing only 21,422 votes.

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