SETBACK FOR CONG AS JD( S) SWEEPS MANDYA
SHILPA P.
The Congress suffered a severe blow in Mandya where the JD ( S) won all seats.
“Mandya is a strong JD ( S) belt with the majority of voters from the Vokkaliga community. So Mr H. D. Deve Gowda and Mr H. D. Kumaraswamy enjoy huge influence in the region. Except for Malavalli constituency which is a SC reserved constituency, all the candidates who had contested were Vokkaligas. Also, people wanted H. D. Kumaraswamy to be CM and hence have chosen the JD ( S). Mr S. M. Krishna, Ambareesh and Ramya who earlier won, were not easily accessible to people, so even if Ambareesh had contested, he would have lost,” sources said.
Among the JD( S) winners were C. S. Puttaraju who defeated late farmer leader Puttanaiah’s son Darshan Puttannaiah by a margin of 22,224 votes in Melkote. JDS candidate Ravindra Srikantaiah defeated ex- JD( S) rebel MLA Ramesh Bandisiddegowda who had recently joined Congress, by a lead of 43688 votes in Srirangpatna.
JD( S) candidate D. C. Thammanna defeated Congress candidate Madhu by 54,030 votes in Maddur. At KR Pet, JD( S) candidate Narayangowda defeated Congress candidate K. B. Chandrashekar by 16,935 votes. In Mandya, JD( S) candidate M Srinivas defeated Congress candidate Ravikumar by 21,718 votes. In Nagamangala, JD( S) candidate Sureshgowda defeated Congress’ Cheluvarayaswamy by 47,667 votes. In Malavalli SC reserved constituency, Dr K Annadaani defeated Congress candidate P. M. Narendraswamy by 26,760 votes.