Old rivalries hard to bury
The former Minister B. Shivaramu and Arsikere MLA K.M. Shivalinge Gowda, who have been politically opposed to each other for many years, have now become colleagues in the ruling Congress. Both of them, however, cannot seem to bury their past.
Mr. Shivalinge Gowda began his career in the H.D. Deve Gowda-led JD(S) and contested unsuccessfully against Mr. Shivaramu for the erstwhile Gandasi seat. His fortune changed in 2008, when he contested in the Arsikere constituency, as Gandasi lost its presence following the delimitation of constituencies. Since then, he has been winning in the Arsikere constituency. Ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls, he joined the Congress and retained the seat.
As the parliamentary elections are approaching, Mr. Shivaramu proposed Mr. Shivalinge Gowda as the party’s candidate for the Hassan seat, currently being represented by Prajwal Revanna (JD-S). He maintained that Mr. Shivalinge Gowda, the only Congress MLA in the district, is the most suitable candidate.
This has irked Mr. Shivalinge Gowda to no end since he is more interested in getting a ministerial berth in the Congress government and not in contesting the Lok Sabha elections. It seems Mr. Shivalinge Gowda, who was loyal to Mr. Deve Gowda’s family earlier, sees this as a ploy to deny him a shot at the ministerial berth.
Reluctant Ministers
It is not just MLAs and MLCs, but even Ministers in the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government are not keen on contesting elections to the Lok Sabha. A few Ministers have been reportedly told to prepare to contest the general elections as there are no winnable candidates in the party in some constituencies. However, the Ministers, who won the Assembly elections just eight months ago and managed to get berths amid immense competition, have declined the offer apparently made by the party high command.
Many leaders are believed to have declined to contest the elections sensing that the party may not secure majority seats in the Lok Sabha. Moreover, they believe that they enjoy more power being Ministers in the State rather than being members of the Lower House of the Parliament.
Stick to the topic
A team of women Members of Parliament from the BJP recently visited some places in Belagavi district to express moral support to a woman who is a victim of atrocity in her village.
The women leaders met the victim in the hospital, spoke to her relatives and discussed the issue with investigating officers and activists. Some local BJP leaders accompanied them.
However, their interaction with reporters remained incomplete. Reporters asked them if they had visited violence-hit Manipur that had witnessed several atrocities against women.
The team gave no satisfactory answer and when pressed for an answer, Mahantesh Kavatagimath, senior leader and former MLC, cut short the question-and-answer session and told reporters to ask questions only about the “more important” Belagavi incident and other things.
