Karnataka   

Congress jittery in Maddur

MADDUR: Mandya district is known for electing or rejecting political parties totally. It has happened several times in the past, including the 2004 elections.

Political parties are jittery about the outcome of the coming elections as they know what the voting pattern here is.

The Congress, which was strong here until the 2004 elections, is hoping to regain its hold on the district. But rebellion within in the party and resignation of leaders over ticket distribution could dash its hopes.

There is strong discontentment in the party in Maddur, the constituency which brought the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna to the centre stage in 1962. Mr. Krishna has pledged to bring his party to power in the State, but his brother and nephew are upset with the party candidate D.C. Thammanna, a close relative of the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda.

Mr. Krishna’s brother S.M. Shankar, MLC, and his son and the former zilla panchayat president Gurucharan, have reportedly been opposing Mr. Thammanna’s candidature from the beginning.

They have reportedly said that they will not support Mr. Thammanna in the election. They wanted Mr. Krishna or someone else to contest from Maddur. Mr. Gurucharan aspired to get ticket for the Maddur seat if Mr. Krishna would decide not to contest. Before the air of uncertainty over Mr. Krishna’s contest was cleared, the party chose Mr. Thammanna. The party could not deny him a ticket as he had represented the constituency in the dissolved Assembly.

Supporters of Mr. Shankar and Mr. Gurucharan are apparently not campaigning in support of Mr. Thammanna. But party leaders maintain that leaders, including Mr. Shankar and Mr. Gurucharan, would pitch in when Mr. Krishna hits the campaign trail in Mandya on May 3 or 4.

Party sources said that Mr. Krishna, who is the chairman of the Election Management and Coordination Committee, would try to cover all constituencies in the district which are going to the polls on May 10.

In his political career spanning over 45 years, Mr. Krishna had both won and lost elections from the Mandya Lok Sabha constituency and the Maddur Assembly constituency.

He lost the Lok Sabha elections to the late K.V. Shankare Gowda (Janata Party) in 1984, and the Maddur Assembly seat in 1994. He launched his political career defeating Congress candidate and journalist H.K. Veeranna Gowda.

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