D K Shivakumar preps Channapatna bypoll pitch after brother’s defeat

Bengaluru: Setting the stage for a high-voltage showdown, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said Wednesday that he may contest the impending bypoll in Channapatna, vacated by his arch-rival HD Kumaraswamy who is now in Lok Sabha.

Speculation is that if Shivakumar contests and wins Channapatna, then he will vacate his Kanakapura seat for his brother DK Suresh, who suffered a huge defeat at the hands of the BJP-JD(S) combine in the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment.

“Channapatna is in my heart. I have a debt to repay people there. I’ll have no option but to contest if voters and my party want that,” Shivakumar told reporters.

The Channapatna constituency was represented by Kumaraswamy, the JD(S) state president, until his election as the Mandya MP.

“I’ve come here to start a new chapter in my politics,” Shivakumar said in Channapatna, dropping a big hint about his candidature.

However, Shivakumar could be merely preparing the pitch for Suresh to contest the bypoll. "There's no need for Shivakumar to contest. It's speculation that he'll contest. Talks are that Suresh will contest," Agriculture Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy, who has been appointed to oversee the Channapatya bypoll, said.

Suresh's Lok Sabha poll loss was a huge setback for Shivakumar, who called it “my personal defeat”. BJP’s Dr CN Manjunath, the son-in-law of JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, defeated Suresh by 2.69 lakh votes.

Shivakumar pointed out that some parts of Channapatna were under the erstwhile Sathanur constituency that he represented four times. “People there gave me political birth. Even during difficulty, people in Channapatna gave Congress 85,000 votes (in the Lok Sabha polls),” he said.

During the day, Shivakumar went on a temple run in Channapatna. He visited the shrines of Chamundeshwari, Aprameya Swami, Varadarajaswamy, Kalikamba, Neelakanteshwara and Kengal Anjaneya. In the coming days, Shivakumar said he would visit every panchayat in Channapatna with the promise of developing the constituency.

The last time Congress won Channapatna was 2008 with CP Yogeshwar as the candidate. Yogeshwar is now with the BJP and a contender for the ticket himself.

When contacted, Yogeshwar said: “The NDA will decide on the candidate. Whoever it may be, we will work for the victory."

JD(S) core committee chairperson GT Deve Gowda said it would take more time for clarity to emerge on the candidate. “There’s no discussion held yet in our party regarding the Channapatna seat,” he said.

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