Cong mascot makes up for lost time

Kharge has managed to trigger an exodus from the JD(S). So far, two senior Gulbarga zilla panchayat members and five Chittapur taluka panchayat members moved to the Congress along with JD(S) district vice-president, Lingareddy Bosereddy. On Monday, the JD(U) candidate, Savita Rathod, announced her withdrawal. “Mr Kharge is capable of doing great work in Chittapur and we felt it was better to back him,” she said. Rathod said she was touted to be the JD(S) candidate but they refused her a ticket.

Chittarpur has been complaining of bad roads and poor connectivity for several years now. The main road connecting Chittapur to a state highway was started only two months ago under the Governor’s rule. A resident said, “We had earlier decided to vote for the party who built us the main road. But it turns out we cannot vote for the Governor.” People also complained that their children had to go as far as Gulbarga, 60 km away, for higher education and that there were very few government schools.

Kharge made his first visit to Chittapur only two days ago but is already making waves. In Hodegal village, a few km from Chittapur town, Kharge held a small public meeting. Shivanna, a farmer said, “He has worked hard to improve Gurmitkal and we believe he can do the same for us. He is, after all, the KPCC president.”

However, the BJP thinks Kharge will be bad for Chittapur. On Monday, their candidate Valmiki Naik was preparing for his third round of Chittapur’s 102 villages. S.V. Bhaskara, a Chittpur resident, said, “The BJP tells us that Kharge is a man used to air conditioned cars and prefers Bangalore. They say that Naik is a man who would stay in Chittapur with us and work for us.”

Kharge’s presence has senior leaders from all three major parties making a beeline to Chittapur in the recent past. For the Congress, Roshan Baig held a public meeting on Sunday and C.M. Ibrahim held one on Monday as Chittapur has a considerable Muslim population. For the BJP, the campaigners have included the party’s Maharashtra leader Gopinath Munde, B.S. Yeddyurappa and Sadanand Gowda. No one has turned up from the JD(S) yet. But JD (S) supporters insist H.D. Kumaraswamy is expected anytime.