BJP-JD(S) alliance in trouble; Kumaraswamy plays hardball over Channapatna seat
While Kumaraswamy wants his son to contest the Channapatna seat, BJP MLC CP Yogeshwar is equally adamant; even explores other options
The BJP-JD(S) alliance seems headed for trouble in Karnataka after the by-polls in three Assembly constituencies were announced on November 13.
This is largely due to the lack of consensus between the two political parties over finalising the candidate for the critical Channapatna Assembly bypoll.
The Janata Dal (Secular) has dug in its heels and continues to play hardball with its alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), over the choice of candidate, while BJP MLC CP Yogeshwar is equally adamant about being fronted as the NDA candidate from Channapatna.
Meanwhile, speaking to The Federal, Yogeshwar, who has represented the Channapatna Assembly constituency five times, said it would not be a new situation for him if his party deprived him of a ticket in the by-poll.
“I will keep my options open in case the BJP denies me a ticket. I will take the final call on October 24, the last day for filing nominations,” he revealed.
JD(S) bastion
The situation seems complicated as Union Minister and state president of JD(S) H D Kumaraswamy, who had vacated the Channapatna seat to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Mandya constituency, has clearly said in no uncertain terms – “there is no agreement on ceding Channapatna” to its alliance partner BJP.
Recently, Kumaraswamy reiterated that Channapatna has been a JD(S) bastion for a long time and pointed out that the JD(S) has registered two consecutive victories in the constituency. The party workers and local leaders are not in favour of sacrificing the seat to the BJP, Kumaraswamy had stated.
Meanwhile, the state BJP unit is also not in favour of giving up Channapatna, with former MLA Yogeshwar, who lost to Kumaraswamy in the 2023 Assembly elections, hell bent on contesting the bypolls at any cost. He is in no mood to compromise and is gearing up to contest as an Independent candidate if the BJP succumbing to pressure from the JD(S), especially Kumaraswamy, refuses to field him as the candidate.
Also read: Karnataka bypolls: Siddaramaiah relieved, DKS braces for battle in Channapatna
BJP leaders in a fix
BJP’s state leaders are now clearly in a fix, as they don’t want to antagonise Yogeshwar at this critical juncture. Local BJP leaders in Channapatna are rallying around Yogeshwar and are in no mood to work for JD(S), who they opposed even a year ago. They believe that only Yogeshwar can fight rival Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh.
BJP leaders are also convinced that compromising with JD(S) will affect BJP’s grand plans to penetrate the Vokkaliga heartland in Old Mysuru region. The JD(S) and Kumaraswamy too do not want to lose their hold over the Vokkaliga belt.
“If we cede Channapatna to BJP we will then lose our hold on the Vokkaliga belt from Ramnagara to Mysuru,” a senior JD(S) leader told The Federal.
BJP pushes for Yogeshwar
Former chief minister and present MP, Basavaraj Bommai told reporters on October 16 that a few senior leaders are working hard to convince Kumaraswamy to support Yogeshwar’s candidature.
Ironically, in 2019, Basavaraj Bommai hugely benefited from Operation Kamala launched by BJP to bring down the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, headed by Kumaraswamy.
Bommai said senior BJP leaders met Kumaraswamy and convinced him on the need to field Yogeshwar from Channapatna. Kumaraswamy assured them of taking the final call after consulting party workers and leaders. Realising the impact on the party’s prospects in the bypoll if Yogeshwar decided to contest as an Independent candidate in the eventuality of BJP denying him a ticket, Union Minister Prahlad Joshi and other senior leaders are impressing upon the party high command on the ‘inevitability’ of fielding Yogeshwar as the NDA candidate in Channapatna.
Yogeshwar represented Channapatna constituency in the Karnataka Assembly as an Independent in 1999; as Congress MLA in 2004 and 2008 and even defeated Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha Kumaraswamy in the 2013 polls on a Samajwadi Party ticket, when he was denied a ticket by Congress.
Also read: Ahead of Karnataka bypolls, Congress-BJP war of words over 'appeasement politics'
Prestigious and crucial constituency
Of the three constituencies, which are going to the polls next month, Channapatna, is prestigious and crucial for all the three parties.
The by-poll results in this constituency will directly impact Karnataka politics since the two titans of the Vokkaliga community — the JD(S) chief Kumaraswamy and Congress state president D K Shivakumar — are pitted against each other.
While H D Kumaraswamy is trying to push his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy into the forefront in politics by fielding him in Channapatna, Shivakumar is eager to avenge the defeat of his brother, the former MP D K Suresh in the Bengaluru rural Lok Sabha constituency earlier this year.
Also read: DK Shivakumar hoists Tricolour at Channapatna, says he is Congress candidate for bypolls
D K Shivakumar is doing his best to clear the pitch to facilitate his brother D K Suresh’s candidature in Channapatna. The Congress too cannot seem to find a more formidable candidate to fight Kumaraswamy. In August this year, a determined Shivakumar went to the extent of announcing that ‘he would be the Congress candidate’ for the Channapatna bypolls, ‘no matter who ever contests from here on Congress ticket’.
