With support of the dominant Vokkaliga community becoming crucial in the elections to Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar held meetings with leaders and members of the Vokkaliga community in Kodagu and Mysuru on Sunday.
BJP’s Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and Congress’s M. Lakshmana are engaged in a direct fight in Mysuru Lok Sabha constituency. Though JD (S) has not fielded a candidate in Mysuru, it has extended support to the candidate from BJP with whom it has entered into an alliance.
Mr. Shivakumar’s meetings with community leaders and members in Kodava Samaja in Madikeri and a hotel in Mysuru were held on the same day as former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda shared the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Mysuru rally.
In Mysuru, Mr. Shivakumar said the Congress had fielded a Vokkaliga candidate in Mr. Lakshmana after a gap of 47 years. After pointing out that BJP had denied ticket to Prathap Simha, a Vokkaliga, he called upon the members of the community to retain the seat for Vokkaliga representatives. “If you lose the Mysuru seat now, you will not get it again,” he told the community leaders.
Mr. Shivakumar also pointed out that the Congress will run the government for 10 years, hinting that he would become the Chief Minister in future. He said there was not much hope for the members of the community in BJP, and that the JD (S), which has entered into an alliance with BJP, “will soon cease to exist.”
