Daijiworld Media Network - Mandya (SP)

Mandya, Apr 13: Congress rebel leaders chose to stay away from the much-touted joint election rally in which JD(S) national president, H D Deve Gowda, and former chief minister, Siddaramaiah, participated in the election rallies held in this constituency on Friday April 12. By this act, the rebel leaders sent a message that they are not willing to compromise with their stand against the JD(S) in the constituency and that in the bargain and they are not averse to earning the wrath of top leadership of the party.

The JD(S) leaders had specifically chosen constituencies where rebel Congress leaders have influence. The two major election rallies were held in Malavalli, the constituency of former minister, Narendraswamy, and Nagamangala, where former minister, Cheluvarayaswamy, has considerable grip. Although their names found mention in the invitation cards printed for the occasions, many rebel leaders including Narendraswamy and Cheluvarayaswamy chose not to attend the rallies.

Siddaramaiah too took care not to criticise disgruntled Congress MLAs who kept away from the election rallies and thus failed to uphold the coalition principles. He also did not target the independent candidate fighting against the chief minister's son. His addresses were mainly confined to leveling charges and criticising the BJP.

Siddaramaiah, in his addresses, made a mention of some fake news claiming that he was in support of a particular independent candidate in Mandya constituency. He termed this news as fake, and announced that he supports JD(S) nominee, Nikhil's candidature, and requested the electorate to choose him as their representative. Without mentioning Sumalatha's name, he just said that BJP has been supporting an independent candidate, and requested people not to vote for her.

During electioneering in Srirangapatna in the past, Deve Gowda had criticised former MLA from the constituency, Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda. This had angered the supporters of Gowda, who had pledged not to support JD(S) in the election. In the past, Gowda had also taken former MLA, Cheluvarayaswamy, to task whenever he spoke in Nagamangala constituency. However, this time, he took care not to make any mention about the MLAs this time.

Minister, C S Puttaraju who had termed Cheluvarayaswamy as 'dead horse' in the past, apologised for this comment.