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PTI
B FORM H.D. Kumaraswamy
(second from left) files nomination
led Congress was cornered in a bypoll in
Nanjangud where the CM’s prestige was
at stake, the JD(S) helped by supplying
expelled from the JD(S). Then, Gowda’s the winning candidate. But subsequent
son, H.D. Kumaraswamy, pulled out from Rajya Sabha polls were a different matter
the ruling Congress-JD(S) and teamed altogether: the Congress not only com-
up with the BJP to form a new govern- peted intensely, but also rallied support
ment. It lasted 20 months. As the two fell from JD(S) rebels.
Since then, the JD(S) dwindled, with a
out, it handed the BJP, primarily its
leader B.S. Yeddyurappa, enough of a string of leaders leaving the party for its
sympathy wave to win elections in 2008. bigger rivals. Just last month, after the
Over the years, the two leaders have Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress netted
often traded barbs. “He says that (Rama 10 senior leaders from the party and gave
krishna) Hegde was his mentor. Will many of them tickets to contest the
people believe it? Hegde told me ‘don’t upcoming assembly elections. Of course,
entertain that fellow’,” Gowda trails the JD(S) too has been picking up dis-
back. Yet, in 2015, his party allied with gruntled legislators from other parties,
the Congress to wrest the municipal but observers generally reckon the exo-
corporation Bruhat Bangalore Mahana- dus has left the party without enough
gara Palike from the BJP. Then, in 2016, leaders to represent its once-wide sup-
Siddaramaiah appeared to build bridges port base among minorities and back-
again with Gowda to whom he turned to ward castes. Besides, it’s long been seen
when the Cauvery water crisis loomed. as a family-run party where there have
Even last year, when the Siddaramaiah- been squabbles even within the house-
hold over election tickets.
“They have become primarily a Vokka
liga party,” says political commentator
Narendar Pani. “That also will be chal-
lenged...there are new Vokkaliga leaders
emerging.” One of them is the BJP’s
newly-recruited candidate for the Cha
nnapatna seat that lies adjacent to Sholay
town Ramanagara, which is a Kumara
swamy stronghold. A former CM, he is
now fighting elections from both Rama
nagara and Channapatna. In his own seat,
supporters say Kumaraswamy doesn’t
need to campaign to win, but in the other
he’ll need some help from the Congress—
or so go the murmurs.
“This time, he has an opportunity again
to become CM,” Anitha Kumaraswamy
tells voters in Ramanagara from atop
their custom-built bus. As Kumaraswamy
takes over the mike from his wife, a thun-
der clap booms in the Ramanagara sky. “If
it rains, it’ll be a blessing,” he says. The
supporters whoop and whistle. O
7 May 2018 OUTLOOK 35