‘Guru-Shishya’ battle in West Teachers’ seat

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT Bengaluru

A ‘guru’ and his former ‘shishya’ are now fighting it out for the honours in the Karnataka West Teachers constituency which will go to polls on Monday. Former chairman of the State Legislative Council Basavaraj Horatti who has not tasted defeat in the last seven elections, is now facing the poll battle for a record eighth time.

It will be a record if Horatti wins the election. And it would be a feat if Congress candidate and his shishya, Basavaraja Gurikara beats him. Horatti is contesting on the BJP ticket this time while Basavaraja Gurikara has been fielded as the Congress candidate.

The JD(S) candidate, Srishaila Gadadanni is yet another ‘shishya’ of Horatti who has been representing the constituency for a record 42 years. The constituency covers Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Uttara Kannada districts.

Though Horatti is a known face in his constituency having represented teachers for the last four decades. there are many among the new generation of teachers who might like to have a fresh face as their representative in the Legislative Council. The JD(S) is optimistic of victory as it thinks that though Horatti has jumped ship to the BJP, voters will remain loyal to the regional party.

The Congress party on the other hand is leaving no stone unturned to ‘retire’ Horatti and get its candidate into the Council. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai campaigned for Horatti for a full day recently. Three of the four districts forming the constituency- Dharwad, Haveri and Uttara Kannada are bastions of the saffron party. In Gadag the Congress may put up a tough fight due to presence of veteran leaders like H.K. Patil and D.R.Patil.

The number of voters which was 22,389 in the 2016 election, has now reduced to 17,916 votes. As Primary & Secondary Education Minister earlier, Horatti had solved many problems of the teaching community and stands a good chance of winning the seat

A team of senior BJP leaders including Bommai, Jagadish Shettar, Pralhad Joshi, CC Patil, Shankarpatil Munenkoppa and other MLAs are working tirelessly for his victory. Congress candidate, Gurikar had been championing the cause of teachers and had formed the Primary School Teachers’ Association. Despite losing the election last time, he had maintained his ties with voters and has earned their confidence. He has the credit of enrolling the highest number of teachers in the state.

For the first time, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah campaigned him for three days in the four districts. Apart from the three party candidates, four independents are also in the fray.