Cracks in the fort? Infighting may trip up Congress in Chitradurga

CHITRADURGA: PM Narendra Modi’s speech in Chitradurga last week invoking the district’s local heroes Veera Madakari and Onake Obavva and faulting Congress for forgetting them and celebrating the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan may have given BJP some brownie points, but all doesn’t seem well for the party on this turf.
BJP’s national president Amit Shah had to face some embarrassing moments when Murugha mathh pontiff Shivamurthy Murugarajendra Swamiji submitted a memorandum seeking approval of religious minority status for Lingayats as recommended by the Karnataka government.Shah left the mathh hurriedly and on reaching the Shiva Yogi Mandir in Badami, said it will not be possible for the Centre to consider the petition. He also gave the example of the UPA government rejecting a similar proposal.
In this mathh-dominated district, the six assembly constituencies – Molakalmuru, Challakere, Chitradurga, Hiriyuru, Hosadurga and Holalkere – could go in any direction. In 2013, Congress won four seats and BJP and BSR (Congress) one each. This time around, Congress is facing hurdles from within the party and to a large extent social welfare minister H Anjaneya, who is seeking re-election from Holalkere and is a confidant of CM Siddaramaiah, has antagonised many in the district.
“Old timers in Congress have been ignored. There is a tussle between the insiders and outsiders in Congress as Anjaneya is from Davanagere. HA Shanmughappa (Chitradurga candidate) among others is not from Chitradurga,’’ a Congress source said.
Hosadurga has churned out an interesting triangular contest. This is also the only constituency where JD(S) is trying to open an account. It has fielded actor Shashikumar from here.
Three-term sitting MLA BG Govindappa of Congress is facing anti-incumbency in Hosadurga. BJP has given the ticket to Goolihatti Shekar, former minister in Yeddyurappa’s cabinet, who rebelled against the latter. When he was disqualified by the speaker in 2010, he tore his shirt in the assembly. A Kuruba, BJP expects Shekar to garner the Lingayat and scheduled caste votes.
Among the six segments the spotlight is on Molkalmuru where BJP MP B Sreeramulu is pitted against onetime follower S Thippeswamy, who is in the fray as an independent. The issue here is of betrayal as Thippeswamy feels let down by his mentor, who has been labelled as an outsider from Ballari.