Zameer’s remarks drove away some voters from Congress: Yogeshwar

Channapatna byelection aftermath: Congress candidate reflects on impact of party leaders' statements, high voter turnout, and tough battle ahead.

A day after the Channapatna byelection witnessed very high polling, after a fortnight of an intense campaign, Congress candidate C.P. Yogeshwar on Thursday felt that certain statements made by party leaders, especially Housing Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, drove away certain voters from the Congress.

“Some statements from leaders hurt people’s sentiments. Mr. Zameer’s statement may have helped in Muslim consolidation, but votes from certain communities were reduced. Though Janata Dal (Secular) leaders wanted to vote for me, they went back to their party,” the four-time MLA told presspersons. Mr. Zameer’s reference to Union Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy as “kalia” (dark-skinned), in a campaign speech, had kicked up a row days ahead of polling.

Channapatna, which had seen 85.86% voting in 2023, this time recorded 88.8% polling, driven by a high turnout of voters who have migrated out of the constituency.

Mr. Yogeshwar, who is pitted against NDA candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, outlined the tough battle. “This is a crucial election for me. I have not lost self-confidence. We have given a tough fight and it will be a photo finish.”

Detailing the adverse situation that he faced during the campaign, he said: “There is a section of the (Vokkaliga) community that does not like any criticism of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.” Terming Mr. Gowda as a “political giant”, he said, “Mr. Gowda had come for campaign for over a week and is bent on getting his grandson elected.”

He spoke of the uphill task for the Congress in the constituency which had polled about 30,000 votes in 2018 and 15,000 votes in the 2023 election. “A huge gap had to be bridged to win. Of the total of about 2.06 lakh votes polled, one has to get over one lakh votes to win. I had polled 85,000 in the previous elections.” He said that change of symbol for him and the BJP and JD(S) coming together were a big challenge.

When asked if he could have contested as an Independent instead of joining the Congress, Mr. Yogeshwar said, “The decision to join the Congress was right. However, it provided a peculiar situation like in the IPL where a player changes teams. I contested on the BJP symbol in the last Assembly election, worked with BJP-JD(S) combine in the parliamentary election and criticised the Congress, and now I contested on the Congress symbol.”