Muniyappa faces uphill task of transferring JD(S) votes to himself to win Kolar: BJP's Muniswamy
Kolar, Apr 16: BJP's greenhorn S Muniswamy said Tuesday he will be able to defeat veteran Congress parliamentarian K H Muniyappa from Kolar Lok Sabha constituency as they are locked in a direct contest and it would be difficult for JD(S) to transfer its core votes to its alliance partner.
Muniswamy, a BBMP corporator from Bengaluru, is banking on a possible discontent among voters with the seven-time Congress parliamentarian, Muniyappa, and on the performance of the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.
The issue of the closed Bharat Gold Mines Limited is also a factor in the election.
The BJP leader claimed people in the constituency, an SC seat, are unhappy with Muniyappa because he has failed to fulfil the promises he made to them during the past 28 years, including to sort out the PSU's long-pending issues.
Also, he added, Muniyappa "faces an uphill task" of transferring the votes that were cornered by JD(S) and other smaller parties in a three-way contest in 2014 polls to himself.
There were nearly 15 lakh voters registered in Kolar during the last general election and Muniyappa beat the JD(S) candidate by receiving 37.20 per cent of the total votes cast then. The constituency had seen a 75.51 per cent voter turnout in 2014.
"Though Muniyappa won Kolar in last election, he lost six lakh votes in a three-way contest between Congress, BJP and JD(S). Due to JD(S)-Congress coalition seat-sharing formula, there is a straight fight between Congress and BJP.
Generally, BJP wins two-way or straight fights, Muniswamy told PTI in an exclusive interview during his campaign in Chintamani on the last day of campaigning for the seat.
Kolar will vote on April 18.
"In every election, Muniyappa promises to reopen the closed Bharat Gold Mines Ltd (BGML), but he does not fulfil it. Also, he has not done enough to solve the water problem (in the area). Yettinahole project is still incomplete. People are angry and have decided to vote Muniyappa out," he asserted.
BGML was closed in March 2001 and a few years later the Union Cabinet decided to dispose of assets and liabilities of the company. But the matter is stuck because of litigations.
And Yettinahole Integrated Drinking Water Project proposes to supply 24.01 tmcft of water from Yettinahole, a stream, to drought-prone Kolar district and others in the region.
Sudhakar Reddy, a former Congress MLA and popular leader in Kolar, said Muniyappa has not done anything for the district, but promoted his daughter during the last assembly election.
Muniswamy said the response for BJP's rallies and roadshows have been tremendous because of Modi government's performance, which has worked for the betterment of all sections of society with "Sab Ka Saath, Sabka Vikas" slogan.
"You must have seen the kind of response we are getting in rallies. There is an unabated 'Modi Modi' chant. There is Modi wave. Nobody can deny it. Nobody chants for a failed leader. He has done enough for all communities. People have made up their mind to vote Modi back to power," he said.
Muniyappa, the Congress candidate, is facing rebels from Kothur Manjunath and H Nagesh. Even Reddy shared a stage with the rebel leaders at the public rally recently.
Muniyappa however clarified that all the MLAs except Manjunath are supporting him.
"Congress is a large party and there will be differences, but everything has been resolved," he said.
The Congress candidate is banking on UPA's policies and his party president Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress has lost Kolar seat only once since 1977, when the general election was held for the first time when it became a part of Karnataka state.
Jayaprasad MG of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Ashok Chakravarthi MB of the Ambedkar Samaj Party are prominent names who are also in the fray from Kolar.
The constituency has a significant number of SC community voters. Vokkaligas, Kuruba, minority communities and Tamil-Telugu speaking sections, can tilt the balance.
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Post poll TN alliances divided in supporting TVK
Chennai (PTI): In a changed political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu with no single political party having a simple majority to form the government post the Assembly election, opinion is divided among the allies led by the Dravidian majors in extending external support to Vijay-led TVK in government formation.
Both the DMK and AIADMK are at unease as the Congress and also a section in the AIADMK express willingness to extend external support to Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagtam in forming the government.
Post poll, the TVK's political prospects appear to impact alliances led by both the Dravidian majors in a different manner, triggering a speculation of a split.
Leema Rose Martin, who won from Lalgudi on an AIADMK ticket, has stated that talks were underway on extending support to the TVK. Her son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who won from Villivakkam is TVK's general secretary.
On May 5, former AIADMK minister O S Manian, emerging from his meeting with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, stated that AIADMK would not support TVK in forming the government.
The AIADMK, which finished third in the elections with 47 seats has cancelled its meeting of MLAs designate on Wednesday amidst a difference in extending external support to the TVK, which won 108 seats, including two seats by its founder Vijay.
As Vijay is gearing up for his swearing-in on May 7, the police have tightened security at his residence here. The party has lodged its MLA-elect at a resort in Mamallapuram and has simultaneously engaged in talks with the Congress and AIADMK, a source said.
The DMK that won 59 seats on its own, has convened a meeting of its newly elected legislators on May 7 evening and the party is likely to elect the youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, who won from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni as its legislature party leader.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal admitted that TVK chief Vijay requested the Congress for support to form the government.
"The INC is clear that the mandate in Tamil Nadu is for a secular government, committed to protecting the Constitution in letter and spirit. The INC is determined not to allow the BJP and its proxies to run the government of Tamil Nadu in any manner. Thiru Vijay has also spoken about drawing inspiration from Perunthalaivar Kamaraj," he said.
Accordingly, the Congress leadership has directed the TNCC to take a final decision on Vijay’s request, keeping in view the sentiments of the state as reflected in the electoral verdict, Venugopal said in a statement.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai slammed the Congress decision and said the move to ally with TVK, pledging the support of its five MLAs to the party, was tantamount to "backstabbing the DMK and the people of Tamil Nadu."
"They have betrayed the mandate given by the people. Even before the ink on the returning officer’s signature on the victory certificate has dried, they have chosen to go ahead with this alliance," he told PTI.
The most important question was who took this "foolhardy decision, and how is it going to backfire on the Congress?" he asked.
"I don’t think they had any serious deliberation on this. The larger issue is their opposition to the BJP, which is their ideological enemy. We have supported the Congress throughout. It was our leader M K Stalin, who named Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate when the BJP and RSS were criticising him. And now, within a day, they say they are supporting TVK. This is not the mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Saravanan said.
The Congress' exit from its long-standing alliance with the DMK will be a significant moment in the political scenario of the state, commentator and political analyst Sumanth Raman said.
The Congress may be betting on the TVK as a long-term partner option, but that comes with risks, as the TVK is as yet an unknown quantity, he said.
"For the DMK, if the TVK+Congress becomes the choice of the minorities as it well could, it is an existential threat. It was the minority vote that gave the DMK alliance a 12%-15% cushion in the polls. If that goes, their chances of winning drops dramatically," Raman said on 'X.'
The Congress won 5 seats. However, DMK's other allies, the IUML, VCK, CPI and CPI (M) and DMDK have categorically stated that they would not support TVK.
As of now, the TVK requires the support of 11 MLAs to attain a simple majority of 118 to form the government.
The PMK, which won 4 seats and AMMK one - both allies of AIADMK - have not announced their decision yet.
"AIADMK’s real post-result drama may not be outside the party, but inside it. Whispers from the west and north suggest that a Coimbatore hand and a Villupuram voice may soon ask the question everyone is avoiding: Is it time to save the party from the leadership, before the cadre are forced to do it themselves? In politics, coups don’t begin with slogans. They begin with silence, phone calls and “review meetings,” Aspire Swaminathan, who is credited with founding the AIADMK IT wing in 2014, said on 'X.'
He has resigned from the AIADMK in 2021 and now acts an as independent political analyst.
