CM’s son tries to counter Bangarappa’s charm

Development is a theme close to the heart of the people here. “Before every election,there are padayatras and campaigns to Perdal. Nothing ever comes out of it,” says Shivappa,a 70-year-old resident of the village.

It is the development card that Yeddyurappa’s 36-year-old son Raghavendra,a Lingayat and a political novice,is reaching for as he tries to extol voters to change preferences this election from the 76-year-old party-hopping maverick whose charm alone,people claim,has seen him through four parliament elections and seven Assembly elections. In a chequered career Bangarappa has been in the Congress,the BJP,the Samajwadi Party and a couple of self promoted regional outfits.

“Do you know which places topped the list when the Nanjundappa committee report on the most backward regions in Karnataka was published? It was Jewargi in Gulbarga and Sorab in Shimoga. Both places voted for the Congress for over six decades. I know you people admire Bangarappa,he is like my father,but I want to ask you if this is the development you want?” the CM’s son asks voters in Perdal before launching into a list of programmes initiated by Yeddyurappa.

“Everyone knows it takes at least two years to even build a house. Yeddyurappa has done so much in 10 months. See the roads in Shimoga. You can have development only if you have an MP and a CM from the same party. You can hold our hands and make us work,” he says.

In many ways,the battle for Shimoga could well be called S Bangarappa and friends versus the Government of Karnataka represented by Yeddyurappa. Both sides have a lot to lose—for Bangarappa it could probably signal the end of his career and for Yeddyurappa and his government,who have invested tonnes of his time and resources for the campaign in Shimoga,it could spell serious dissensions within the party. A sign of the intensity of the battle is the fact that Shimoga tops the lists for poll code violations.

Bangarappa was a BJP MP as recently as 2004,before quitting—citing ill-treatment by Yeddyurappa—to join the SP in 2005. “The BJP is trying to divide the society into non-vegetarians and vegetarians,” he says in his campaigns. “I am not fighting any candidate,I am fighting the BJP.” With the JD(S) backing Bangarappa,the battle for Shimoga is heavily polarised.

“People are still drawn to Bangarappa. He still has the charm but when it comes to voting I think they may be done with his party hopping,” says Manjunath Swamy,a Shimoga resident who claims to have always voted for Bangarappa. Among the former chief minister’s promises is one to improve the railway connectivity to Shimoga and four-laning of the highways running through the district.