Shivakumar goes on temple run in Channapatna, says he will enter poll fray if people and party desire

Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar considers contesting in Channapatna byelection after Lok Sabha setback in Bengaluru Rural.

After a setback in the Lok Sabha elections, specifically in the Bengaluru Rural constituency, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who also heads the State Congress unit, on Wednesday embarked on a temple run in the Channapatna Assembly constituency, which will soon go for byelection as the seat has been vacated by Union Minister for Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy.

Before commencing the temple run, in a surprise statement, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president said that he “may be left with no other choice but to contest from Channapatna in the byelection if the party and people wanted”.

The Deputy Chief Minister said, “Channapatna is in my heart. It was part of the erstwhile Sathanur Assembly constituency which I represented. My political career started from there. The people of Channapatna have been with me in tough times and I have a debt to repay.”

“I am visiting the temples of the constituency and discussing with the local leaders and voters, and will take a decision on contesting later,” he said.

Mr. Shivakumar spent almost a day in the constituency, visited more than a dozen temples and offered prayers. A party functionary said Mr. Shivakumar is gauging the pulse of voters and local leaders of the constituency in case the party fields his brother D.K. Suresh, who lost against BJP’s C.N. Manjunath, cardiologist, in Bengaluru Rural parliamentary seat. However, the KPCC chief said, “The decision on Mr. Suresh contesting from Channapatna has not been finalised.”

Even though the Election Commission of India has not announced the calendar of events for the byelection, Mr. Shivakumar began his constituency tour, which is largely seen as the beginning of the election campaign in an attempt to wrest the Channapatna seat held by the Janata Dal (Secular).

Mr. Shivakumar, who is keen to emerge as a Vokkaliga leader in the Old Mysore region and nursing the ambition of occupying the Chief Minister’s post, chaired a key meeting with community leaders last week amid concerns that the community votes moved towards the BJP-JD(S) alliance in the parliamentary elections.