Key Contests: S Bangarappa vs Ayaynur Manjunatha

MANDATE 2004/ LS CONSTITUENCY WATCH - Karnataka

The contest for the Lok Sabha seat of Shimoga is life imitating the movies.

Elder son and heir rebels against father, walks out of the house, younger son dutifully carries out the father's command and stands in for his brother, political rival steals elder son's affections, makes him join the political party opposed to his father, father is angry with him.

But all the time, it was the elder son, who had made the supreme sacrifice of leaving home, actually to strengthen his father.

It is no surprise that 'Zamindharu', a Kannada movie released five months ago, is still running to packed houses in Shimoga. Spun around the theme of alienation of father and son, many in Shimoga liken it to the drama that is unfolding in the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency.

But, wait. It gets more complicated in real life.The man who was the BJP candidate for the Shimoga in 1999 is the Congress candidate today, and the person who was the Congress candidate in 1999 is the BJP candidate today.

Sarekoppa Bangarappa, former film actor and a man of considerable financial means and independent political standing (he even floated his own political party, the Karnataka Kranti Ranga way back in the 1980s which did surprisingly well), left the Congress and joined the BJP in March.

No one knows exactly why, because the Congress would have fielded him from the constituency. His son who is also a film actor, Kumar, joined the BJP, but stayed there for less than a week. He was welcomed back into the Congress by Chief Minister SM Krishna.

Meanwhile, Bangarappa nominated younger son Madhu from the Soraba Assembly constituency and the Congress named Kumar as its candidate. So it is Bangarappa versus Bangarappa in one Assembly segment in Shimoga.

But the story doesn't end there. Ayanur Manjunatha, a contemporary of BJP state unit president Ananth Kumar, opted to leave the BJP reportedly frustrated at Ananth Kumar's appointment as BJP chief.

He had been in the RSS and the BJP since the Emergency, and was an active Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) worker. He was also imprisoned during the Emergency.

"He felt that while both he and Ananth Kumar had started in politics together, he had got nothing while Ananth Kumar had forged forward," said a law student who is also an ABVP worker.

Manjunatha first joined the Samata Party, an outfit which later became the Janata Dal (U). The general expectation was that he would be the NDA candidate from Shimoga. But sensing a vacuum in the BJP, Bangarappa moved in quickly. He contacted Ananth Kumar who equally quickly advised that he be taken in the party.

Meanwhile, hit by Bangarappa's defection, the Congress cast about for a candidate from the Shimoga constituency. Ayanur Manjunatha was the best candidate.

For the last one week, Bangarappa has been blaming the Congress for splitting his family, Kumar has been reverential about his father. In his campaign, he has publicly asserted that Bangarappa is his political mentor and that he could never speak against his father.

Kumar Bangarappa's speeches are all about the Congress. But there is not a word about the candidate of the party he is supposed to representing officially "" Ayaynur Manjunatha.

So much so, that Manjunatha has complained to the party leadership that as the Congress candidate for the Assembly segment that fell in his constituency, Kumar should have come at least to attend his nomination ceremony.

Manjunatha is convinced that he will have to face, especially in the Sorab constituency, two Bangarappas officially and possibly one Bangarappa unofficially.

Bangarappa belongs to a caste of toddy tappers called Idigas, whose influence is considerable, not just in Shimoga but also in neighbouring Udupi. In Shimoga, Manjunath has the support of the Lingayat and Brahmin communities, while Bangarappa will take the BJP with him, the Idigas but also Muslims.

"In the last election I got votes from the backward classes and minority communities, Lingayats and Brahmins. Even Marathas supported me," said Bangrappa.

Manjunath is toeing the party line that there has been no development in the constituency. In his campaign meetings, he criticises Bangarappa for standing by and watching while sugar factories close down.

Shimoga is quite different from neighbouring Hubli. There is no drought here, and enterprising farmers have planted cash crops like sunflower and vanilla alongside ragi.

The markets are full of shops selling agricultural implements, gold and consumer goods. So stories of hardship and difficulty are not going to find too many takers.

Bangarappa and Ananth Kumar leap out from street corners in huge cutouts, they stand guards at city circles, bus stands and all over the constituency. It may be hard for Ayanur Manjunath to get a word in edgeways.