Kanakapura: JD(S), BJP make little effort to take Congress’ master strategist DK Shivakumar turf

While his leader, CM Siddaramaiah, is sweating it out in two seats for a win, Congress’ master strategist and energy minister DK Shivakumar who is contesting from Kanakapura in Ramanagara district, about 60km from Bengaluru, is sitting pretty. Courtesy, the lightweights JD(S) and BJP have fielded against him.

Shivakumar has not even been seen in the constituency and has left everything to his brother and Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh. Not too long ago, Shivakumar was fighting with his back to the wall. Income tax raids on his properties and Enforcement Directorate cases against him were seen as an attempt to browbeat the Congress strongman.

Local JD(S) leaders were hoping that the party would field PM Vishwanath, a strong candidate. But when the list was announced a few weeks ago, they were in for a rude shock as the party opted for 67-year-old Narayana Gowda.

“Narayana Gowda is a progressive, well-heeled silk farmer and also a man of humility but compared to Shivakumar he is a political nobody,’’ claimed a dejected JD(S) party worker, lending credence to reports that Shivakumar and JD(S) state president HD Kumaraswamy have got into an arrangement.

BJP, on the other hand, has all but given up by fielding Nandini Gowda, who recently switched sides from JD(S) to BJP. “People are fed up with corruption and goondaism of Shivakumar and his brother Suresh. Jungle raj prevails here and people are desperately hoping for a change and they see that in me and Modi,’’ says Nandini.

Despite being represented by political stalwarts, including Ramakrishna Hegde and former PM HD Deve Gowda, Kanakapura constituency comprising Kanakapura Kasba hobli, Town Municipal area, Kodihalli, Uyyamballi and Satanur hobli, remains backward and was ranked 172nd among 176 backward taluks in the Prof D M Nanjundappa Committee Report on Regional Imbalance a couple of decades ago.

“Kanakapura had hardly seen any kind of development till 2008. A lot of transformation happened after Shivakumar started representing the constituency. The constituency now boasts of better connectivity, good roads, quality drinking water and abundant real estate activities. Our leader has also ensured good irrigation facilities, enabling the constituency to become a national hub for sericulture,’’ says Marsappa Ravi, Congress spokesperson in Ramanagara.

However, there is more to Shivakumar’s supremacy than meets the eye, his rivals say. Both BJP and JD(S) workers charge the DK brothers with using unethical methods to woo the electorate and ensure there is no competition. The brothers have also been accused of facilitating illegal quarrying in the region.

Though the constituency is dominated by Vokkaligas, caste has never played a major role here. As JD (S) candidate Narayana Gowda puts it, “It’s the money and muscle power of DK brothers that plays a crucial role here. If that is the case this time too, I am no match for Congress.’’ Kanakapura was a bastion of Janata Parivar. After delimitation in 2008, Kanakapura got parts of Sathanur assembly segment. Shivakumar, who was representing Sathanur, shifted to Kanakapura and has established his supremacy over Kanakapura by defeating PGR Sindhia, who had won six times from the constituency till then.