Vijayapura: While the offices of two National Parties, the BJP and the Congress are abuzz with political activities daily, the JD(S) office near Basaveshwara Circle of the City has a contrasting picture with almost no activities.
The JD (S) which won two seats in the District in the 2018 Assembly polls, now seemed to be struggling even to retain it in the 2023 elections.
The party had won in Sindagi where veteran leader, M. C. Managuli had won against the incumbent MLA Ramesh Bhusnur of the BJP. Similarly, Devanand Chavan won from Nagathan Reserved Constituency against Gopal Karjol of the BJP in the last elections.
But, the JD(S) lost Sindagi in the by-election after the demise of Managuli. The Congress offered ticket to Managuli’s son Ashok Managuli while JD (S) fielded political novice Naziya Angadi, wife of police officer Shakeel Angadi. Interestingly, the JD (S) which had won the seat in 2018, came third in the by-election held on October 30, 2021.
The BJP gave ticket to Ramesh Bhusnur who defeated Ashok Managuli to retain the seat. After the defeat, the JD (S) now has a lone MLA in the District which has eight Assembly Constituencies.
Though Appugouda Managuli, who was with the JD (S) then, gave tough fight in Basavanabagewadi Constituency, making the victory of sitting MLA Shivanand Patil of the Congress a herculean task, but after the defeat, Appugouda joined BJP.
There were speculations that even Chavan, the lone JD (S) MLA was contemplating to quit the party as he was not confident of winning from JD (S). His first choice reportedly was there Congress, but sources said that due to the strong resistance from Congress ticket aspirants of Nagathan, the party decided not to consider Chavan’s request.
In one of the press conferences, Chavan himself declared that getting offer from any other party to contest is a closed chapter. With the statement, he effectively indicated that he was planning to switch to some other party.
“As per our information, Chavan even met BJP leaders in order to join the party and clinch the ticket, but the party leaders did not entertain him”, said one of the prominent JD (S) functionaries on the condition of anonymity.
He also admitted that the party has become weak in the District due to lack of effective leadership.
The Party also took out Pancha Ratna Yatra in the District under the leadership of Former Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy and the State President C. M. Ibrahim, but the party could not get the expected response.
“We are now largely banking on B. D. Patil from Indi and Rajugouda Patil from Devarahipparagi as both are relatively tough competitors in the coming assembly election,” he said.
