Feb 4: All the three major political parties -- the Congress, Janata Dal and the Lok Shakti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine have offered a lion's share to the dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga community in giving tickets for contesting in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka.With the State slated for two-phase elections to the 28 Lok Sabha seats on February 16 and 22, the political parties have given tickets to as many as 26 Lingayat community members and 17 Vokkaliga aspirants. While 19 members belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have been offered tickets, 12 tickets have been given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe members in constituencies reserved for them. While minorities have been given seven tickets, three persons representing Brahmin community have been given tickets.
The Lok Shakti-BJP combine have fielded 13 Lingayats and four Vokkaligas. With the hope that Lok Shakti leader Ramakrishna Hegde would be able to mobilise the support of the Lingayat voters in the northernKarnataka region as claimed by him, barring Raichur, the combine has fielded Lingayat candidates in all the eight Lok Sabha constituencies and the other four Lingayat nominees are in Tumkur, Davangere, Hassan and Chikmagalore constituencies in the southern parts of the State. Lingayat candidate of the Lok Shakti N Thippanna is fielded for the Bellary seat.
Lok Shakti candidate and actress Jayanthi pitched against former Union Minister R L Jalappa of the Congress and state agriculture minister and JD nominee in Chikballapur constituency, BJP nominee Vijayashankar in Mysore and Lok Shakti candidate P Kodandaramaiah in Chitradurga constituency are from backward classes.
Former Minister Ramesh C Jigajinagi (CHikkodi), Susheela Keshavamurthy (Chamarajanagar), V Hanumappa (Kolar) and Ramachandra Veerappa (Bidar) are the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates fielded by the Lok Shakti-BJP combine.
Abdul Sammad Siddique (Raichur) is the lone Muslim candidate fielded by the combine and V DhananjayaKumar, who belonged to Jain community, is its candidate for the Mangalore seat being contested by senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Janardhan Poojary. The BJP has fielded two Brahmin candidates -- Ananth Kumar (Bangalore South) and Ananth Kumar Hegde (Canara).
The Congress is the only party which has given two tickets each to Muslims and Christians besides one ticket to a Brahmin. Neither the Lok Shakti-BJP combine nor the ruling Janata Dal in the state have offered a ticket to any Christian candidate. The Congress' Muslim nominees are former Union Minister C K Jaffer Sharief (Bangalore North) and I G Sannadi (Dharwad South). All India Congress General Secretary Oscar Fernandes (Udupi) and former Union Minister Margaret Alva (Canara) are from the Christian community.
Noted Transport operator D P Sharma belonging to Brahmin community is the Congress nominee for the prestigious Bangalore South seat.
Congress candidates belonging to Lingayat community included KPCC treasurer ShamanurShivashankarappa (Davangere), former MPs Mudaligiriyappa (Chitradurga), Dr B G Jawali (Gulbarga), S B Sidnal (Belgaum), former Union Minister Siddu Nyamegouda (Bagalkot) and M B Patil (Bijapur).
Prominant among the five vokkaliga candidates of the congress include H C Srikantaiah facing former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in Hassan, former MP G Made Gowda in Mandya and D B Chandre Gowda in Shimoga. Among the OBCs included former Chief Minister Veerappa Moily in Chikmagalore, former Union Ministers Janardhan Poojary in Mangalore, R L Jalappa in Chikkaballapur. And former Union Minister B Shankaranad belonging to Scheduled Caste is fielded in his home constituency Chikkodi.
The ruling Janata Dal has the distinction of giving eight seats each to Vokkaligas and OBCs. While Lingayats are given seven tickets, one ticket is given to a Muslim candidate Khamarrul Islam (Gulbarga). Prominent among the Vokkaliga candidates included H D Deve Gowda (Hassan), his son H D Kumaraswamy (Kanakapura), member of thedissolved Lok Sabha C Narayanaswamy (Bangalore North) and state JD President B L Shankar (Chikmagalore).
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
