CHICKMAGALUR, February 9: The battle of the ballot is yet to hot up in the coffee land. Campaigning is still low-key and will reach a crescendo after the arrival of Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.The three main candidates in the fray viz. M Veerappa Moily (Congress), B L Shankar (Janata Dal) and D C Srikantappa (BJP) will also have to reckon with the presence of B L Renukandhya of the CPI in the reckoning. Comprising three main regions, this segment has eight assembly constituencies under it. They are Chickmagalur, Madigere, Sringeri (SC), Birar, Kadur and Tarikere in Chickmagalur district and Belthangudy and Karkala in south Kanara.
The population of the area is put at 10,52,693 of which 5,29,434 are women. Hailing as they do, the three main candidates represent the diversity of the terrain. While Moily comes from south Kanara, Shankar represents Malnad and Srikantappa comes from the dry belt.
Scheduled castes/tribes dominate the constituency followed by Vokkaligas, Muslims, Kurumbas and Lingayats. WhileShankar hopes to cash in on Vokkaliga votes, Moily expects the backward class, Christians and Muslims to vote for him. The BJP on the other hand will cash in on Lingayats and the split in Vokkaliga votes.
The constituency has for long been a victim of neglect. There is an acute shortage of drinking water here despite the ironical fact that five main rivers including Tunga, Bhadra and Hemavati originate from here. Apart from this the long-standing demand of having a railway link also remains unanswered. With no major industry apart from coffee, the area has also problems of poor roads and erratic power supply.
For the Janata Dal, the stakes are pretty high. Its candidate B L Shankar, a coffee planter by profession, is also the party's state president. Despite having heavyweight campaigners, Shankar's pitch has been queered by the non-arrival of H D Deve Gowda on Sunday. Gowda altered his plans at the last minute primarily with a view to countering Sonia who is arriving on Tuesday.Another thing that may goagainst Shankar is the CPI factor. Being a plantation area, there is a huge labour force which traditionally votes for the Left.
Shankar, however, exudes confidence. Speaking to The Financial Express he said that the developmental works undertaken by him will stand him in good stead. ``The JD was instrumental in getting the Rs 160 crore rail link off the ground. So also is the case with Yagachi Dam. There was also marked improvement in telephone network. Over Rs 45 crore was sanctioned for delivering telephone network. Added to this, traditionally the area has voted for a leader from plantation. In addition the state government is planning an industrial estate in the Kadur-Birar-Tarikere belt.
The Congress, however, refutes the claims. Dismissing Shankar's charges that he is an outsider to Chickmagalur, Moily told The Financial Express, ``I have represented the constituency six times. Where then is the question of my being an outsider?" According to Congress MLA from Chickmagalur C R Sayeed Ahmed, the Rs22.5-crore Yagachi Dam was the brainchild of Moily. Ahmed, who was also the small-scale industries minister in Moily's cabinet said it took JD three years to co-opt HUDCO into the project. The Kadur-Chickmagalur-Sakleshpura rail link is also still in limbo as the JD government has sanctioned only Rs 5 crore which is negligible, says H A Narayan Gowda, former MLA and BJP member. Adding to this Ahmed opines that despite a vast potential for developing tourism and software, no initiatives have come from the Patel government.
For Moily it will be women voters who may tilt the scales. The Sonia Gandhi charisma may win him much sympathy but whether it will translate into votes remains to be seen.
The BJP is banking on stability and environment as its main issues. The Kudremukh Iron Ore complex falling under Chickmagalur is now a grave threat to the region, says Narayana Gowda. The source of Tunga and Bhadra rivers is getting depleted with forest cover coming down drastically, he claims. In addition, it is alsoan ecological disaster, he added.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
