LS polls: Cong MLA’s wife lobbying for second crack at Bagalkot seat

NT Correspondent

Bagalkot / Bengaluru: The wife of Congress MLA from Hungund Vijayanand Kashappanavar, Veena appears to upping the ante for a Lok Sabha ticket from party to contest once again from the Bagalkot seat next year.

She had contested from the same seat in 2019 and lost to BJP’s PC Gaddigoudar by more than 1,68,000 votes but was considered a strong candidate regardless.

This was buttressed by the fact that Congress was in a bad state during the previous elections, winning only a solitary seat in Bengaluru Rural with DK Suresh emerging victorious.

BJP had swept the state scooping up 25 seats. The other aspirant for the Bagalkot ticket is Ajaykumar Sarnaik who had lost to Gaddigoudar in 2014 by a margin of more than 1,16,000 votes.

There are also caste equations at play since Sarnaik is a Reddy and Kashappanavar is a Lingayat and Congress wants to shore up support from different communities.

No dearth of ticket aspirants

It may be too early for ticket distribution but plenty of Congress hopefuls have thrown their hat in the ring sensing an opportunity. The Grand Old Party romped home to 135 seats in the May 10 elections and is likely to ride that wave to impressive numbers in 2024’s general elections.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar has already asked party workers to ensure victory in at least 20 seats out of a possible 28 this time around. Congress is also trying to poach sitting MLAs from both BJP and JD(S) by way of ‘Operation Hasta’ to ensure they have good candidates for the polls.

However, this hasn’t stopped Congress loyalists from seeking tickets. Former Ballari MP VS Ugrappa who had won a by-poll in 2018 and lost in 2019 reckons he can win from the seat this time.

Siddaramaiah loyalist HM Revanna wants to contest from Bengaluru Central against BJP incumbent PC Mohan.

It is to be noted that Rizwan Arshad has moved into state politics and is now a two-time Shivajinagar MLA. He is unlikely to contest from Bengaluru Central again.