Bypolls: BJP ahead in candidate selection, Congress weighs options

As the nomination process for the by-elections to Bagalkot and Davangere South constituencies has begun, BJP has taken its first step forward by announcing the party candidates, while Congress is yet to finalise its candidates and seems to be under pressure as of now.

The bypolls have been necessitated owing to the deaths of incumbent MLAs Hullappa Yamanappa Meti in Bagalkot and Shamanur Shivashankarappa in Davangere. Both served as Ministers during Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure as Chief Minister.

After the notification on the bypolls, the State BJP announced Veerabhadrayya Charantimath as its candidate for Bagalkot and Srinivas T. Dasakariyappa for Davangere South. Both Mr. Charantimath and Mr. Srinivas filed their first set of nominations on Friday (March 20). They will file another set of nomination papers on March 23, after taking out a large procession with State leaders of the BJP.

However, the ruling Congress party is yet to finalise candidates in both the constituencies.

Feud within party

Although it has been decided that the Meti family would get the ticket, the feud among Mr. Meti’s children, three of four of whom are aspirants, is troubling the party. Mahadevi Meti, who had announced she would file nominations as an independent candidate, has mellowed down after a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a close friend of her father. Her siblings — elder sister Bayakka and brothers Mallikarjun and Umesh — met the Chief Minister in Bengaluru on March 18.

“While Mallikarjun, Umesh, and Bayakka said that they would abide by the decision of the Chief Minister, Mahadevi is said to have demanded that the ticket may either be given to her or her brother Umesh. The Chief Minister assured them that the ticket would go to a member of the family and advised them to stop fighting and back the party nominee in one voice,’’ a senior Congress leader from Bagalkot said.

Meanwhile, party sources said a survey has found that the party cannot bank on the sympathy factor that could arise out of Mr. Meti’s death. A senior leader said that this would be one of the factors that the Congress leaders would have to contend with.

Ticket to Muslim

In Davangere South too, the party seems to be weighing its options over fielding a member of the Shamanur family, even as pressure from the demographically dominant Muslim community is increasing to choose a leader from the community.

According to political observers, the demand for representation from the Muslim community is not something new in the constituency and has been raised during the previous elections too. But this time, the demand for a Muslim candidate from Davangere South has gained more weight as Muslim organisations in various districts have raised the issue through press conferences and also within the party circle. Abdul Jabbar, Congress MLC, has also expressed his intention to contest from Davangere South.

March 23 is the last date for filing nomination papers for elections to be held on April 9. Votes will be counted on May 4.

Grandson jumps the gun to file nomination

Even before the official announcement, Mines and Geology Minister S.S. Mallikarjun’s son (Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s grandson), Samarth, filed his nomination papers on Friday for Davanagere South — both as an independent and as a prospective Congress nominee — without the party’s ‘B’ form. It sent out a clear indication that the family does not want to lose its control over the constituency.