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Journalism of Courage
After alluding over the last few days at the possibility of his joining the Congress to contest the Channapatna Assembly bypoll, former Karnataka minister C P Yogeshwar is expected to join the ruling party on Wednesday.
Yogeshwar, who resigned as a BJP MLC on Monday, is also expected to be declared the Congress candidate for the Channapatna seat, which was vacated by JD(S) leader and Union minister H D Kumaraswamy after he won the Lok Sabha polls. A five-time former MLA from the constituency, Yogeshwar lost his last two Assembly polls to Kumaraswamy.
The bypoll is expected to be a prestige battle between two of the biggest Vokkaliga leaders in Karnataka politics—Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president.
During his many visits to the Vokkaliga-dominated constituency, Shivakumar has urged people to vote as if he himself were the candidate.
Yogeshwar’s return to the Congress, for which he won the seat in 2004, will mean a temporary end to the rivalry between him and the D K brothers—Shivakumar and former MP D K Suresh.
Yogeshwar, who visited Shivakumar at his home on Wednesday morning, later met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The BJP has announced candidates for two of the three constituencies where bypolls will be held on November 13 and ceded the Channapatna seat to the JD(S), its ally. This angered Yogeshwar, who had come in second against Kumaraswamy in the last two Assembly polls. The JD(S) is yet to announce its candidate for the constituency.
Though his son and JD(S) youth wing president Nikhil Kumaraswamy had emerged as a frontrunner, the recent developments are expected to force Kumaraswamy’s hand to field a party worker. Jayamuttu, who is the JD(S) Channapatna taluk president, will likely be the candidate now, according to sources.
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