Between a rock and a hard place, BJP faces the D K Shivakumar test in Kanakapura

Shivakumar has been winning from Kanakapura in Ramanagara district near Bengaluru since 2008, comfortably sailing to victories the last two times. While his victory margin in 2008 was 7,179 votes, it increased to 31,424 votes five years later and 79,909 votes in 2018. In effect, Kanakapura has been the stronghold of the DK brothers, as Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh are known. Before he moved to the constituency following the delimitation in 2008, Shivakumar won the erstwhile Sathanur constituency four straight times, starting in 1989 when he was just 27 years old. Looking to be elected to the Assembly for the eighth term, Shivakumar’s campaign pitch has revolved around his prospect of becoming the state’s next Chief Minister.

To bring the citadel crashing down, the BJP has fielded popular Vokkaliga leader and minister R Ashok who faces an uphill battle. “It will be very difficult for Ashok to defeat Shivakumar,” said Rudre Gowda, a vendor in Kanakapura town. Though the BJP ramped up campaigning days before the polls, he felt it might just not be enough.

With Ashok also in the fray from Padmanabhanagar in Bengaluru South, some voters on Shivakumar’s home turf feel that the BJP leader had not been able to divide his time equally in both constituencies. “Even if he had campaigned full time in the constituency, he could have only reduced the margin of his defeat,” said Pavan K, an auto-driver, noticing that the supporters of Shivakumar and the Congress cadre had remained a dominant force despite BJPs best efforts to shift the momentum.

A major issue that could hurt the BJP in the constituency is how a medical college sanctioned for the taluk was shifted to Chikkaballapur in 2019 at the last minute. During one of Ashok’s campaign events, Congress workers questioned him about why the college was taken away from Kanakapura.

Another of Ashok’s drawbacks is the “outsider” tag while Shivakumar has positioned himself as the “son of the taluk” who could become the CM. This put the BJP on the defensive during campaigning but Ashok said he was “confident that there was an undercurrent in the constituency” that could help the BJP secure a win in Kanakapura for the first time.

A day after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai campaigned for Ashok and declared that the lotus would bloom in Kanakapura, Shivakumar attended a massive rally on Monday, the last day of public campaigning. Also on the stage were Janata Dal (Secular) leaders such as D M Vishwanath and P G R Sindhia whom Shivakumar defeated in the past. “People of the state are looking at you to see by what margin you will ensure my win …. Today, the son of Kanakapura taluk has a chance of being CM and his prospects should be strengthened,” Shivakumar said.