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It will be clash of titans in Shikaripur

S. Bangarappa and B.S. Yeddyurappa

BANGALORE: Shikaripur constituency in Shimoga district will witness a clash of titans during the coming Assembly elections as the former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa of the Samajwadi Party has decided to take on another former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa from there.

Putting to rest speculation on the constituency from which he will contest, Mr. Bangarappa told The Hindu on Wednesday that he plans to contest from Shikaripur. While there were reports that besides Shikaripur, he would also contest from Sagar constituency in Shimoga district, Mr. Bangarappa said he was yet to decide on it. On the other, Mr. Yedyurappa has made it clear that he would seek re-election from Shikaripur, from where he has won the Assembly elections five times since 1983.

According to sources in the Samajwadi Party, various factors have forced Mr. Bangarappa to challenge the senior BJP leader in his home turf. Mr. Bangarappa, who had joined BJP ahead of the 2004 elections and won from the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, has been reportedly nursing a grudge against Mr. Yeddyurappa for making things difficult for him in the BJP and eventually leading to his exit from the party.

Secondly, two former MLAs and Mr. Bangarappa confidantes, Belur Gopalakrishna and Hartal Halappa, had distanced themselves from the BJP after their leader joined the Samajwadi Party.

However, Mr. Yeddyurappa brought the two back into the BJP fold and ensured that the duo got tickets to contest the coming elections from Sagar and Sorab constituencies respectively, the sources said.

Mr. Bangarappa was miffed as the BJP fielded his relative Mr. Halappa from Sorab, which has been the pocket borough of the Bangarappa family for over three decades. Mr. Bangarappa, according to the sources, felt that Mr. Yedyurappa was trying to finish him off politically in Shimoga district and thus decided to contest the elections from Shikaripur to “teach a lesson to the BJP leader.”

In fact, during the 1999 Assembly elections, Mr. Yeddyurappa lost by 7,561 votes to the Congress candidate Mahalingappa, who was a personal follower of Mr. Bangarappa.

Interestingly, Mr. Bangarappa’s co-brother K.G. Shivappa defeated Mr. Yeddyruappa by a huge margin in the Lok Sabha elections from the Shimoga in 1991.

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