Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (MS)

Udupi, Mar 24: JD (S) supremo Deve Gowda is hell bent to contest from the Lok Sabha constituency of Tumakuru. This has caused chaos and has sent wrong signals for the alliance of Congress and JD (S) in the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituency also.

Because of the adamant nature of Deve Gowda, sitting MP from the Congress party, Muddahanumegowda is ready to file nomination as a rebel Congress candidate from Tumakuru. If the situation in Tumakuru spirals out of control, it may affect the alliance of JD (S) and Congress in the whole state of Karnataka. In the constituency of Mandya also many of the Congress leaders are openly supporting the candidature of independent candidate Sumalatha instead of Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is the alliance candidate.

If the seat sharing between Congress and JD (S) fails, then Pramod Madhwaraj will have to face confusion with regards to the party from which he has to contest in the election. He has already got B form from the JD (S). Pramod Madhwaraj also had shown some sort of urgency in the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru seat. He spoke to the JD (S) leaders first rather than discussing the matter with the Congress leaders. There was a chance that the JD (S) might have returned the Udupi seat to Congress as they do not have any presence in the constituency. Most of the Congress leaders and workers are unhappy about this move of Pramod.

Pramod has already got the primary membership of JD (S) in order to contest in the elections. It would be an embarrassment to decline the B form of JD (S) within just two days. In addition, it also needs to be seen whether the Congress party will give priority to Pramod or put some other candidate. As the candidature of Mithun Rai is confirmed in the constituency of Dakshina Kannada, Congress also has the pressure of offering the seat to Vinay Kumar Sorake according to the caste calculation.

Now the interesting point is that from which party Pramod Madhwaraj will contest if the alliance of JD (S) and Congress gets broken. The sources within Congress party say that there is a chance of fielding a dummy candidate from the party. Rumours are also rife that Pramod may withdraw his candidature at the last moment. There is also a feeling in the district Congress people that Pramod did not strive 100% in the last assembly elections and it is doubtful that he will work hard for the Lok Sabha elections also.

If Pramod really makes up his mind to win the seat by hook or crook, he can do so with a decent margin. But he needs to take into confidence senior Congress leaders of the district as well as the booth level workers of the party, which he reportedly failed to do in the last assembly election.

JD (S) has absolutely no base in the constituency of Udupi-Chikkamagaluru. Even if has to win, it has to take Congress into confidence and also the influence of the candidate itself is also vital. It is also a million dollar question whether JD (S) will indeed put up its candidate in the constituency if the alliance gets broken.

All in all the adamant step taken by JD (S) supremo Deve Gowda and the subsequent developments that might happen due to this, have turned the battlefield of Karnataka a very interesting one.