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Invoking the name of Narendra Modi, a mellowed BS Yeddyurappa is fighting a critical electoral battle of his career from the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency to re-establish his dominance within the BJP and state politics.
In his second bid to enter Parliament from Shimoga after the failed attempt in 1991, Yeddyurappa is leaving nothing to chance though his rivals from the JDS and Congress are greenhorns.
The Congress and the JDS are using the weapon of corruption against Yeddyurappa, whose name is often invoked by BJP’s opponents at the national level to deflate the party’s anti- graft plank. Yeddyurappa, who has often made it clear that he was not keen on entering the arena but the party persuaded him to do so, is invoking the name of Narendra Modi, saying his wave is here as elsewhere.
Seventy one-year-old Yeddyurappa is facing a serious challenge from JDS’ Githa Shivarajkumar, former chief minister late S Bangarappa’s daughter, who has described herself as “clean and fresh” candidate.
His Congress rival is a newcomer and a young party worker Manjunath Bhandari who was office bearer in the KPCC at Bangalore.
His candidature has left a bitter taste in the local unit, particularly with Kumar Bangarappa, son of Bangarappa, who had also tried for the ticket to contest the elections.
The Shimoga seat was held by Yeddyurappa's son BY Raghavendra and the leader with the pan state appeal was persuaded by his party to contest the Lok Sabha polls, hoping his presence would prove beneficial to the BJP. He had played spoilsport to the BJP in the 2013 Assembly polls when he secured 10 per cent vote share for his Karnataka Janatha Party (KJP).
After having re-entered the BJP with hard bargaining and good deal of compromise, Yeddyurappa is now trying to find his space within the organisation despite his four-decade-old association that ended when he walked out to float the KJP. Against this backdrop, the battle now is crucial for him.
He is seeking votes on the basis of his performance as chief minister, heading the first-ever BJP government in the South which went into a self-destruct mode with open infighting and corruption charges against several ministers, some even landing in jail.
He is aided by a well-oiled party machinery manned by the strong cadre base which is carrying out a well-organised campaign and his RSS background from the age of 15 standing him in good stead in organisation and management.
Building the BJP in Karnataka, Yeddyurappa had crafted his political ascent that brought him the chief minister's post, which he lost in July 2011 after the party directed him to resign after the Lokayukta report indicted him on corruption charge linked to illegal mining.
Known for game of brinkmanship, highly temperamental Yeddyurappa has sobered down after the 2013 Assembly polls that established his capabilities as a spoiler but not as a powerful political entity. He returned to the BJP conceding a lot. “I am a mass leader,” asserts Yeddyurappa, saying that makes him the target of attack by opponents. The fight between his rivals was for the second place, he says.
Githa, wife of leading Kannada actor Shivarajkumar, is banking on Bangarappa who had a well-consolidated base in his home district of Shimoga. Shivarajkumar is a son of Kannada thespian late Rajkumar, who scrupulously shunned politics.
“No Modi wave. Only Bangarappa wave,” says Githa.
Bangarappa had served as chief minister, three times as MP of Shimoga and seven times as MLA of his hometown Sorab during his chequered political career of five decades.
