Karnataka   

A contentious battle to reclaim lost ground Key constituency: Surpur

SURPUR (GULBARGA DISTRICT): Will the descendents of the Surpur kings reclaim their territory that they lost to a ‘commoner’ in the 2004 Assembly elections is the question being asked in the highly volatile Surpur Assembly constituency, which is known for its violent pre-poll clashes.

For the first time a person other than the descendents of the Surpur kings was elected from Surpur in 2004 when Narasimha Naik, also known as Raju Gowda, defeated his political mentor, Raja Venkatappa Naik, by a margin of 2,800 votes in a viciously contested electoral battle. From 1957 till 2004, Surpur constituency was the domain of the descendents of the Surpur kings irrespective of their party affiliations.

Mr. Raju Gowda won the seat as a candidate of the now defunct Kannada Nadu party in 2004. He then became an associate member of the Congress and, later, the Janata Dal (Secular). He then joined the Congress along with the former Deputy Chief Minister M.P. Prakash. However, when he was denied the party nomination, Mr. Gowda joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, which accommodated him as the party candidate in Surpur at the last minute.

Dr. Venkatappa Naik has once again been fielded by the Congress, and the contest between the two has become a do-or-die battle for the two.

Mr. Gowda, who was a follower of Dr. Naik, was elected to the zilla panchayat as a Congress representative. But differences arose between the two, and Mr. Gowda resigned from the zilla panchayat and joined the JD(S). However, when the JD(S) failed to nominate him, Mr. Gowda joined the Kannada Nadu party floated by Vijay Sankeshwar and emerged a surprise winner. Mr Gowda was the only Kannada Nadu party candidate to win the elections in 2004.

The BJP, which Mr. Gowda is representing this time, is not a force in the Surpur Assembly segment. In the last Assembly elections, the BJP candidate Venugopal Naik secured 5,657 votes out of the 1.13 lakh votes polled.

The Congress appears to have an edge in the contest with the sympathy factor weighing in on the side of the scion of the erstwhile Surpur royal family. The people of Surpur held the Surpur kings in high esteem for protecting them from the Mughals and for fighting against the British who came in support of the Nizam. The Nizam’s forces later took control of Surpur.

The JD(S) has fielded the little-known Girijamma, a former president of the Kakkera Gram Panchayat.

Surpur Assembly constituency, which is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, has 1.48 lakh voters (76,793 male and 71,499 female voters).

Since the constituency has a history of violence before and during polling, the election authorities have stationed one Central Industrial Security Force company, which conducts regular flag marches.

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