Bengaluru, Apr 25: The stage is set for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday when 14 of the 28 parliamentary seats in Karnataka will go to the polls.
The BJP, which managed to win 11 out of these 14 seats in southern Karnataka is hoping for a clean sweep this time.
The Congress party on the other hand is buoyed by the victory in the assembly elections held in 2023 and is relying on its guarantee schemes to upset the apple cart of BJP. Though, vying for the post of the chief minister, CM Siddaramaiah and Dy CM D.K. Shivakumar, have buried the hatchet to ensure a Congress victory.
Countering this, 91-year-old former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda has launched a spirited campaign in the region to ensure the Vokkaliga vote bank stays with the BJP-JD-S alliance.
Shivakumar’s brother D. K. Suresh was the only person to register a victory for the Congress in the entire state in the last general election. The BJP has nominated Dr C. N. Manjunath for this high profile seat.
Following the tussle between the top leaders and the ground level party workers, incidents of stabbing and attacks, the State Election Commission has doubled the para-military forces in the parliamentary segment. Sources said that the Bengaluru Rural Lok Sabha seat will witness a record turnout of voters and whoever wins the margin is going to be very narrow.
Bengaluru South is considered a fortress of the BJP as its candidates have registered victories since the 1991 general elections. The last time the Congress won this seat was in 1989.
Not taking any chances, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently held a roadshow in the constituency to ensure the victory of the BJP candidate Tejasvi Surya. On the other hand, Sowmya Reddy, daughter of Minister for Transport Ramalinga Reddy, is hopeful of her victory. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had addressed a public meeting in the Bengaluru South constituency during her visit to Karnataka.
The Bengaluru North voters have been electing BJP candidates continuously since 2004. Union Minister of State Shobha Karandlaje is the BJP candidate while the Congress has fielded academician and former Rajya Sabha member Prof. M.V. Rajeev Gowda. The BJP is eying a victory this time as well while the Congress is hoping that voters would give a chance to Gowda, who was a professor at the IIM-B.
In the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat, the Congress wants to ensure the victory of its only Muslim candidate in the state Mansoor Ali Khan. However, there is an allegation that the top Muslim leaders of the Congress did not take any interest in campaigning for him. BJP candidate P.C. Mohan who has won the seat three consecutive times is confident of winning for the fourth time.