Old Mysuru region: BJP lists nominees for 25 out of 29 Assembly segments

The BJP has taken several risks in the Old Mysuru region, in announcing candidates to 25, out of 29 Assembly constituencies in Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan and Chamarajanagar districts, on Tuesday night. It has to be noted that the JD(S) and the Congress are the traditional rivals in the Old Mysuru region and the BJP is still struggling for a foothold.

The risks for the BJP are not only in repeating a few candidates, six of them sitting MLAs, but also in fielding a few new candidates. The candidates in four segments, including the tricky seat of Krishnaraja (KR) in Mysuru, have not been announced. The other three are: H D Kote (ST reserved), Shravanabelagola and Arsikere.

The highlight is the nomination of Housing Minister V Somanna, a prominent Veerashaiva-Lingayat leader, from two segments, Chamarajanagar and Varuna, where he will take on heavyweight former chief minister Siddaramaiah.

K C Narayana Gowda (K R Pet), Preetham J Gowda (Hassan), B Harshavardhan (Nanjangud - SC reserved), L Nagendra (Chamaraja – CR), N Mahesh (Kollegal - SC reserved) and C S Niranjan Kumar (Gundlupet) are sitting MLAs.

Also read | Somanna, Ashoka against Congress titans: Men & message of 'no adjustment' politics

Mysuru district

In Mysuru district, V Kaveesh Gowda (Chamundeshwari) and Revanna (T Narsipur – SC reserved) are new to the BJP. Gowda is a son of former Chamaraja MLA Vasu of Congress. He is the honorary secretary of Vidya Vikas Group of Educational Institutions.

Revanna was a government doctor, surgeon, who took voluntary retirement, to join the BJP. He is a native of Nilasoge in Narsipur taluk. His uncle Puttabasavaiah was ZP member twice and had contested the Assembly poll once as KJP candidate and once as BJP candidate.

Devagalli Somashekar (Hunsur) was JD(S) candidate in the 2019 bypoll, facilitated by resignation of then JD(S) MLA A H Vishwanath.

He had got over 35,000 votes against MLA H P Manjunath of Congress. He was an aspirant of JD(S) ticket again. But, the JD(S) favoured G D Harish Gowda, son of Chamundeshwari MLA G T Devegowda. Thus, Somashekar joined the BJP.

C H Vijayashankar (Periyapatna), a Congress leader from 1980 to 1990, was also Hunsur taluk Congress president. Along with Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, he joined the BJP in 1990. He contested Hunsur Assembly election in 1991 and lost by a margin of 1,500 votes. He won in 1994. Later, he represented Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency twice — from 1998 to 1999 and 2004 to 2009. He was MLC from June 2010 to January 2016 and Forest minister from September 2010 to July 2011 in B S Yediyurappa Cabinet.

Vijayashankar contested Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, which he lost to former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, as Pratap Simha was made candidate for Mysuru-Kodagu constituency.

Vijayashankar was an aspirant of BJP ticket in Periyapatna Assembly constituency in 2018. But, S Manjunath, an industrialist from Bengaluru, was given BJP ticket. Sensing this, prior to the polls, Vijayashankar crossed over to Congress on January 19, 2018, at the behest of Siddaramaiah, who assured him of a Congress ticket to contest Lok Sabha polls. Vijayashankar lost to Simha as a Congress-JD(S) coalition candidate. He re-joined BJP on November 5, 2019.

Mandya

In Mandya, Sudha Shivaramegowda (Nagamangala) is new to BJP. She is the wife of former MLA L R Shivaramegowda, who won his initial elections (1989 and 1994) as an Independent, but lost as a Congress nominee (1999 and 2004). He joined the BJP in 2009 to contest Lok Sabha poll from Mandya and returned to the Congress. Then, he joined the JD(S) and won the 2018 Lok Sabha bypoll from Mandya, following the resignation of C S Puttaraju upon his election to the Assembly from Melkote. Last year, Shivaramegowda was expelled from the JD(S), for a comment on the late MP G Madegowda.

Muniraju (Malavalli – SC reserved) is a BJP member since long and had contested the 2013 poll. S P Swamy (Maddur), Dr Indresh Kumar (Melkote), Ashok Jayaram (Mandya) and Indavalu Sachidananda (Srirangapatna) joined the BJP around 18 months ago.

Swamy’s wife was a Zilla Panchayat member and also, served as ZP president. Ashok is the son of S D Jayaram, an influential minister in the earlier Janata Dal government. Both his parents were MLAs. Sachidananda was a follower of the late actor-politician Ambareesh and was a member of the Congress. He has continued his loyalty to Sumalatha Ambareesh. His father-in-law S L Lingaraju was a Congress candidate in Srirangapatna in 2013.

Hassan district

In Hassan district, Devaraje Gowda (Holenarsipur) and Cement Manju (Sakleshpur – SC reserved) are new to the BJP, while Hullalli K Suresh was a BJP candidate in 2018. Suresh was BJP district president. H Yoga Ramesh (Arkalgud) was initially with the BJP and was a candidate in the 2018 poll. But, when A Manju of Congress returned to the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha poll, he jumped to the Congress. Now, as Manju joined the JD(S), Ramesh has returned to the BJP.

Devaraje Gowda, an advocate, is known for his fight against the family of H D Revanna. He is a petitioner against MP Prajwal Revanna in the false affidavit case, seeking his disqualification.

In Chamarajanagar, Dr Preetham Nagappa (Hanur) was BJP candidate in the 2018 poll. His father H Nagappa was Janata Dal MLA in 1994 and his mother Parimala Nagappa was JD(S) MLA in 2004. While Parimala was JD(S) candidate in 2013 and BSP candidate in 2008, Nagappa was Congress (Organisation) candidate in 1972, Janata Party candidate in 1978 and 1985, Janata Dal candidate in 1989 and JD(S) candidate in 1999.

Mahesh won as BSP candidate and due to the alliance with the JD(S), he became Education minister in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government. However, he was expelled from the BSP for abstaining from the trust vote that brought down the coalition, when he declared himself as an Independent MLA. Later, Mahesh warmed up with the BJP and later joined the party.