The perennial get together hopper that he’s, C P Yogeshwara’s entry to the Congress on Thursday didn’t come as a shock. Now, he has been given the get together’s ticket for the Channapatna bypoll that might be held on November 13.
Forward of the forthcoming polls, Yogeshwara was anticipating the BJP to area him. However the BJP-JD(S)’s new-found bonhomie due to the alliance meant a modified state of affairs on the bottom. Yogeshwara needed to negotiate with previous rival and JD(S) chief H D Kumaraswamy whose resignation to contest because the Mandya MP necessitated the bypoll.
For a second, issues did appear up for Yogeshwara. As per some sources, Kumaraswamy was okay with fielding Yogeshwara because the alliance’s joint candidate.
As per some sources, a gathering was additionally held the place the opportunity of Yogeshwara contesting on a JD(S) ticket was mentioned. However instantly after, the sources mentioned, there was discuss of the JD(S) being eager on fielding Kumaraswamy’s son and JD(S) youth wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy from the seat.
Amidst this, a cautious Yogeshwara is learnt to have reached out to the Congress on the final minute.
The previous minister, sources mentioned, feared a defeat in Channapatna due to an “inner understanding” amongst leaders. The sources have been alluding to the scenario after the 2018 Meeting polls. On the time, Kumaraswamy had contested each the Ramanagara and Channapatna seats and finally retained the latter, reportedly on the recommendation of Congress chief and now Deputy Chief Minister D Okay Shivakumar. The association was to make sure that Yogeshwara — a rival of Shivakumar — didn’t get a shot to contest the bypoll from Channapatna if Kumaraswamy vacated the seat.
The tables, nevertheless, seem to have turned now, with Shivakumar welcoming Yogeshwara to the Congress on Thursday.
DK’s plan
Shivakumar, who can be the KPCC chief, has gone all weapons blazing over the previous few months to wrest the Channapatna seat from JD(S), the one seat in Ramanagara district gained by the get together within the 2023 Meeting polls.
As Yogeshwara approached Shivakumar and different Congress leaders for a ticket, the state Congress management is alleged to have sensed the advantages of fielding him particularly towards a comparatively inexperienced Nikhil.
Within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Nikhil had misplaced from Mandya towards Impartial candidate Sumalatha. Within the 2023 Meeting polls, he misplaced the Ramanagara seat to Iqbal Hussain of the Congress.
Shivakumar’s outreach programme to woo voters, coupled with Yogeshwara’s clout are the 2 issues the Congress appears to be counting on.
Altering colors
After his first win from Channapatna as an Impartial in 1999, Yogeshwara first discovered a house within the Congress earlier than the elections in 2004. He retained Channapatna defeating M C Ashwath of the JD(S) and repeated the feat within the following elections in 2008.
In 2009, he made a transfer to the BJP throughout what’s dubbed as the primary “Operation Lotus” in Karnataka beneath B S Yediyurappa’s tenure as Chief Minister.
His seat fell vacant, necessitating a bypoll. Yogeshwara contested the identical on a BJP ticket, defeating the JD(S)’s I Nagaraju by 18,000 votes. Following this, he was given cost of the Forest Ministry beneath Yediyurappa.
Forward of the 2013 Meeting polls, Yediyurappa floated the Karnataka Janata Paksha get together after he was eliminated as CM following his implication in a corruption report.
Yogeshwara didn’t comply with Yediyurappa however discovered one other unlikely house: the Samajwadi Social gathering. He gained the seat one other time in 2013, defeating Anita, the spouse of JD(S) chief H D Kumaraswamy.
Yogeshwara’s successful streak ended after this election.
In 2018, he misplaced to Kumaraswamy — now the Union Minister for Heavy Trade — by 21,000 votes,
A yr later, he made his approach again to the BJP and was given the MLC ticket and inducted to the Cupboard as Minister of Tourism, Atmosphere and Ecology.
Then, in 2023, he received again into the fray however once more misplaced to Kumaraswamy by 16,000 votes.
