Party hopper and the once-invincible Sarekoppa Bangarappa has returned to the election ring as a Congress candidate to test whether the people of Shimoga still believe in him.
This is the fourth time Bangarappa has returned to the Congress. He has had stints in the BJP and the Samajwadi Party as also set up two regional parties.
But his supporters - the Lingayats - have long run out of patience and have switched loyalties to to other parties.
This time, Bangarappa will face a challenge from B Y Raghavendra, the 36-year-old son of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. But the fight on April 30 is seen as more of battle between Bangarappa and Yeddyurappa, who is credited with steering the saffron party to its first-ever government in the southern part.
A seven-time MLA from the Soraba constituency in Shimoga, Bangarappa has had the distinction of never having tasted defeat till BJP's Ayanoor Manjunath humbled him in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections.
However, despite maiden electoral defeat, Bangarappa bounced back and won the 1999 polls, defeating Manjunath.
Bangarappa's defections were never an issue with his followers as it was his name that mattered and not the party symbol.
He won in the 2004 Lok Sabha election as a candidate of the BJP, which he is now branding as communal.
Nurturing a grouse that he was sidelined from the party, Bangarappa quit the BJP and his Lok Sabha membership a year later and walked into the Samajwadi Party. In the 2005 by-election, Bangarappa got the mandate on the SP ticket.
On the eve of the current Lok Sabha polls, Bangarappa chose to return to the Congress, saying that "secular" parties should be strengthened, even though the SP continued to back the Congress-led UPA government.
Communities here have polarised along the caste lines in this election, with majority of the Idigas siding with their community leader Bangarappa and the Lingayats with the BJP.
Poll observers say the Vokkaligas, another community in parts of Bhadravathi and Theerthalli, hold the key. The JDS, led by former Prime Minister H D Devegowda and a Vokkaliga strongman, is supporting Bangarappa.
Moreover, the Brahmins with a population of about 1.75 lakh, can also play a deciding factor as well.
In the eight Assembly segments under the Shimoga Lok Sabha seat with an electorate of 13.98 lakh, six are held by the BJP and two by the Congress.
