Keen tussle on the card in three city's urban constituencies

Mysuru: The three urban assembly constituencies in city of  palaces of  Mysuru is poised to witness a closely fought battle between major parties of congress , Bharatiya Janata Party  and  Janata  Dal (Secular) in the elections scheduled for may  12.The common  issues in all constituencies pertain to drinking water, rehabilitation  of slum-dwellers, solid waste management and civic amenities.

After  the delimitation process during the last elections voters has been reallocated to Chamarajaja, Narasimhraja and Krishnaraja segments. all  the three constituencies names were the rulers of the Mysuru royal  family .

During the 2013 elections congress   has got all the  three seats , however, this elections will be testing time for the  seating MLAs with  Vasu seeking for second term in Chamaraja while   Somashekar  also for second term while minister  Tanveer Sait  looking  for his fifth time in a row .   

Chamaraja Assembly constituency  in Mysuru, which was snatched by the Congress' Vasu during the 2013  Assembly elections after four successive terms by BJP's H.S.  Shankarlinge Gowda since 1994, is shaping up for an interesting  electoral battle in the coming Assembly elections, former Chief  Minister M. Veerappa Moily described the development works as a "model"  for the rest of the State. Mr. Vasu, who was publicly backed by Mr.  Moily for a renomination,  and got it .

But, the electoral  contest has turned out be interesting with former Vice-Chancellor of  University of Mysore and Karnataka State Open University K.S. Rangappa,  who has been harbouring political ambitions, throwing his hat in the  ring as the JD(S) candidate upsetting the calculations of party  colleague Harish Gowda, also a strong aspirant for ticket.

Mr.  Harish Gowda, who served as the party's Mysuru city unit president, has  raised a banner of revolt and enter the poll fray as an Independent.  Though he was to be made the party candidate in the last elections, Mr.  Gowda claimed he made way for Mr. Shankarlinge Gowda, who quit the BJP  and contested as JD(S) candidate unsuccessfully in 2013.

The BJP   candidate , former MUDA chairman Nagendra, who was the party candidate  election, making efforts to gain the vakaliga community help from the  constituency to win besides backing the bjp government's achievements at  the centre. 

When it comes to campaigning, Mr. Rangappa appears  to be the first off the block with the JD(S) already announcing his name  in the first list of official party candidates. He has started meeting  people, organising functions, displaying posters on autorickshaws, and  even bringing out a booklet on his achievements and promises.

But,  Mr. Vasu was dismissive of the JD(S) holding out any threat to him in  the constituency. "The JD(S) will not be my rival. It will be the BJP.  Not because of the candidate, but because of the party," he pointed out.

Mr.  Vasu hopes the voters of the constituency will hold him in good stead  in view of the more than ?1,500 crore worth development works taken up  in his constituency during his tenure.

Mr Vasu  isposing severe  threat to BJP, enjoys the support of vakkaligas, other backward classes  voters in the segment, making all out efforts  retain his seat  second   time. the constituency has voters of 2,35,647 consists of major  community of vokkaliga, middle class families and others.

The  Krishnaraja assembly segment which is expected to witness a keen contest  between archrivals S A Ramadas of the BJP and M K Somashekar of the  congress party.During the 2004 assembly elections, the  constituency reckoned to have been nurtured by the bjp suffered a  setback when the two time MLA Mr Ramadas suffered a defeat at the hands  of M R Somasekhar, who was then with the JD(S) by a margin of 3400  votes.

Observers point out that Krishnaraja segment has a  sizeable number of brahamins compared to any other constituency, the  delimitation exercise expanded the constituency's limits and the number  of voters increased from 2, 15,995 to 2,47,082 voters .

Mr.  Somasekhar , follower of the chief minister Siddaramiah defeated Mr  Ramadas  and is seeking reelection  with backing on the traditional  backward class and daliths votes in the constituency expected to give  befitting reply to the BJP.The JD(S)  candidate for  Mallesh ,  a  Mysuru City Corporation member  . Incidentally, Krishnaraja segment  is of the few assembly constituencies where all the three political  parties have savoured victory in the earlier elections.

Even though JD(S) candidates in the fray, it looks like straight fight between bjp and congress party in the constituency .The  Narasimharaja Assembly constituency in  the city  which has a  substantial concentration of Muslim votes, has for long remained a  Congress fortress and a pocket borough of the Sait family. But, the  party could face a tough challenge in the coming polls as it will have  to counter not only the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which  finished second during 2013 polls, but also the Janata Dal (Secular),  which has chosen to field Abdullah.The JD(S) decision to field  Mr. Abdullah by including his name in the first list of candidates  announced by the party is expected to alter the caste arithmetic in the  constituency and have bearing on the outcome of the polls.

It may  be recalled here that late Minister Azeez Sait, father of sitting MLA  and Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait, had lost  the elections to BJP's Maruthi Rao Pawar narrowly during the 1994  Assembly polls when the same Mr. Abdullah contested as a Karnataka  Congress Party (KCP) candidate from the constituency, albeit he finished  fourth. Hence, political observers in the constituency point out that  the going could turn tough for Mr. Tanveer Sait in the coming polls as  the Congress, JD(S) and SDPI candidates will all be vying for the same  Muslim votes and thereby dividing them.

SDPI candidate Abdul  Majeed, who polled 29,667 votes during the 2013 Assembly polls and  finished second against Tanveer Sait's 38,037 votes, is making a  determined bid to win this time.Former Mayor R. Lingappa of the  JD(S) said the party, by fielding Mr. Abdullah, hopes to exploit the  alienation among a section of the voters, particularly Muslims, who are  against the incumbent MLA Tanveer Sait. Besides, the party has its own  support base in the constituency.

Will the division of secular votes between Congress and JD(S) help the BJP repeat its 1994 performance by winning the seat?

But,  Mysuru City Congress Committee president R. Murthy said the Congress  had won the 2013 polls mostly from the support of non-Muslim in the  constituency. "This time, we will attract more votes from the Muslim  community on the strength of programmes offered by the CM," he said. It  looks like a triangular contest in Narasimharaja (NR) Assembly  constituency, a bastion of the Sait family. Tanveer Sait has won from  here three times and his father Azeez Sait represented it four times.  the total   2,62,300 voters.

The Congress has done well in this  segment, where Muslim vote is the key. Standing between Mr. Sait and a   fifth  win from the constituency are Sandesh Swamy, bjp candidates after  leaving  (Janata Dal ? Secular) joined BJP.(UNI)