The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, D K Shivakumar, announced on Thursday that he would be the Congress candidate for the Channapatna Assembly by-election.
Earlier, Shivakumar had announced that he would be the party's candidate, and he will continue to be so irrespective of other aspirants.
He hoisted the national flag in Channapatna—first time in this constituency now gearing up for by-poll—as part of Independence Day celebrations. The act has been interpreted to carry political significance.
Despite being the Karnataka Congress chief, Shivakumar is not the current MLA for Channapatna nor the in-charge Minister of Ramanagara district, which has been renamed Bengaluru South recently and to which the Channapatna taluk belongs.
When reporters in Nelamangala on the city outskirts asked Shivakumar later in the day who would be the Congress candidate for Channapatna, he said, "I'm the candidate," and walked away without elaborating.
Shivakumar is currently the MLA from the neighbouring Kanakapura constituency.
The Channapatna bypoll was triggered as the seat became vacant owing to the election of its MLA, JD(S) leader and now Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, to the Lok Sabha in the recent general elections.
The Election Commission has not yet announced the byelection date for this Assembly constituency.
Earlier, there was speculation that Shivakumar's brother, former MP D K Suresh, who recently lost from the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment, might be fielded by Congress in Channapatna. However, political circles, particularly within the Congress, buzzed with rumors that Shivakumar himself might contest the seat to avenge his brother's defeat and reassert his influence in the region.
Sources said that if Shivakumar contests and wins from Channapatna, he is likely to relinquish his current seat for Suresh.
Shivakumar also used the Independence Day event to reiterate his commitment to developing and serving the people of Channapatna. He indirectly hit out at Kumaraswamy saying that the people of Channapatna had been "abandoned" by one of their leaders.
Elaborating on the programme, Shivakumar said, "In the past 35 years, I have attended such programmes in Kanakapura, Ramanagara, and Bengaluru. Today, I am attending in Channapatna. As there is no MLA from Channapatna to hoist the flag, today I am here as one of your own. I have come to show how development can be done; I am not here for any politics."
He continued to heap praise on Channapatna and its citizens, saying, "Unfortunately, the earlier MLA, Kumaraswamy, never attended such functions here. Maybe he did not respect independence and freedom movement. End
Confident of winning in the bypoll, Shivakumar said, "The people here have a special affinity for Congress, which made many sacrifices in India's freedom struggle.".
Channapatna and Kanakapura are part of Ramanagara district, now Bengaluru South, which is dominated by Vokkaligas and is regarded as Shivakumar's stronghold. For Kumaraswamy, this is the place of his "political birth," as he proclaimed many a time.
The constituency is part of the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha segment, which Kumaraswamy's brother-in-law, noted cardiologist C N Manjunath, won as a BJP candidate defeating Suresh as part of an arrangement between BJP and JD(S). Shivakumar is keen to avenge this defeat, sources in the party said.
BJP MLC C P Yogeeshwara and actor-turned-politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Kumaraswamy, are being named as probable candidates of the Channapatna bypoll from the BJP-JD(S) combine.
Nikhil had lost the 2023 Assembly elections from the neighboring Ramanagara constituency. What's more interesting is that Yogeeshwara and Shivakumar shared the same stage in the Independence Day celebrations.
Recently, following reports that Kumaraswamy might not cede the seat to him, Yogeeshwara said he is an able contender for the Channapatna Assembly bypoll and could try his luck as the joint candidate of the BJP and JD(S) alliance. He also said that if his ticket aspirations are not met, he might contest as an independent and later return to the NDA fold.
Kumaraswamy won the Channapatna Assembly seat earlier in both 2018 and 2023.
Earlier, Yogeeshwara himself represented this seat as BJP MLA, later as Samajwadi Party MLA, and has also served as an independent MLA and Congress MLA from this very seat.
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