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M. Lakshman, Congress candidate for Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency.
| Photo Credit: M.A. SRIRAM
The main contours of the battle of ballots for the Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency have been drawn with the Congress announcing M. Lakshman as its candidate against its main rival BJP.
The elections will be interestingly poised as Mysuru is also the home turf of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Congress has a formidable rival in Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar of the BJP.
The Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency was traditionally the bastion of the Congress but has been breached four times in the last six elections since 1998 by the BJP which won twice in succession – in 2014 and 2019.
But the denial of the ticket to Pratap Simha, the incumbent MP, by the BJP in favour of Yaduveer has created ripples in a constituency in which the vokkaligas have a significant presence.
The BJP’s decision to drop Simha in favour of Yaduveer also forced the Congress to rework its plan, and some of the names which were doing rounds earlier – including that of Yathindra, son of Mr. Siddaramaiah – were shelved.
The Congress zeroed in on Mr. Lakshman, who is also a spokesperson of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and belongs to the Vokkaliga community, in a bid to tap the community’s anger against the BJP for dropping Mr. Simha.
In a constituency of nearly 27 lakh, the vokkaliga numbers may be around 3.5 lakh to 4 lakh, and though small, even a minor swing could sway the results in a fiercely contested polls.
Mr. Lakshman, who is a Civil Engineer by qualification besides doing an M. Tech in Information Science, also holds a Ph.D. in solid waste management as per the bio-data shared by the party. He was also the chairman of the Institution of Engineers, Mysuru chapter and before he entered politics, he was an activist raising developmental issues pertaining to the city.
Though the BJP is inclined to bank on the Modi-factor and the ‘’royal aura’’ surrounding Yaduveer whose forefathers command respect for their contribution to the development of Mysuru, the Congress is equally formidable in the region.
The Congress is also riding high on its triumph in the Assembly elections last year when the party won 5 of the 8 Assembly segments in Mysuru besides breaching the saffron fortress by winning both the Assembly seats in Kodagu which is part of the Mysuru Parliamentary constituency. The successful implementation of the 5 guarantee schemes within months of coming to power is also expected to pay rich electoral dividends in the coming elections.
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