Karnataka elections: With Congress fielding Na. Ra. Bharath Reddy, Ballari is set for high-voltage triangular fight

(From left) Na.Ra. Bharath Reddy, Lakshmi Aruna and G. Somashekhar Reddy are within the fray for the May 10 Assembly elections in Ballari phase.
| Photo Credit: SRIDHAR KAVALI

After a lot churning, the Congress finalised Na. Ra. Bharath Reddy for Ballari (General) constituency, paving the best way for a high-voltage triangular fight between the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the newly shaped  Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP), based by former Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy who lately broke away from BJP.

The BJP introduced G. Somashekhar Reddy, brother of Mr. Janardhan Reddy, and the KRPP has given a ticket to Aruna Lakshmi, spouse of Mr. Janardhan Reddy.

Senior Congressmen Diwakar Babu and Anil Lad, aside from Allam Prakash, son of former Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Allam Veerabhadrappa, tried to safe social gathering ticket utilizing their proximity to All-India Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge.

However, Mr. Bharath Reddy, a younger chief and son of an influential politician and former MLA for Kurugodu constituency Suryanarayana Reddy, managed to get the ticket, together with his early voter outreach programmes.

Ballari has historically been a Congress stronghold. Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi selected to contest the 1999 Lok Sabha elections from Ballari and received in opposition to nearest rival, the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj.

However, the mining increase modified the steadiness of energy for a short interval with Mr. Janardhan Reddy rising as a robust chief. In the 2004 Assembly elections, his shut affiliate B. Sriramulu received the Ballari phase on the BJP ticket defeating Diwakar Babu of the Congress by 6,711 votes

In the 2008 Assembly elections, Mr. Somashekhar Reddy defeated the Congress’ Anil Lad by 1,022 votes.

In 2013, the State politics modified owing to an inside battle in BJP that resulted in B.S. Yediyurappa and Mr. Sriramulu parting methods with the BJP and forming their very own events, the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) and the Badavara Shramikara Raithara (BSR) Congress respectively. In Ballari, Mr. Lad received, defeating Murali Krishna from the BSR Congress by 18,200 votes.

With Mr. Yediyurappa and Mr. Sriramulu coming again to the BJP fold, coupled with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recognition, the equation once more modified within the 2018 elections. Ballari fell into the fingers of the BJP with Mr. Somashekhar Reddy beat Mr. Lad by 16,155 votes.

The state of affairs may flip beneficial for the Congress in 2023 owing to Mr. Janardhan Reddy forming his personal political outfit to contest the elections. In Ballari, it is very a lot potential that the normal vote financial institution of the BJP and that of the Reddy brothers may very well be divided among the many BJP and the KRPP, giving a bonus to Mr. Bharath Reddy.

Confident in getting a Congress ticket, Mr. Bharat Reddy had taken out a number of voter outreach programmes within the constituency. Before his rivals visited voters’ homes for the primary time, Mr. Bharat Reddy had already accomplished his third spherical with a number of programmes.

His early initiative is possible to present him constructive dividends within the elections.