Bangalore(DHNS) : Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and State Congress chief G Parameshwara will jointly campaign from August 10 to 19 in three assembly constituencies that are going for bye-polls on August 21.
Party sources said the campaign will commence in Bellary rural and move to Shimoga and Chokodi and conclude in Bellary. However the chief minister may not be able to campaign on August 14 and Aug 15 as his presence would be required in the capital. The party which has taken the bye-elections seriously, has already made Minister D K Shivakumar camp in Bellary to workout strategies.
Bellary rural has become the forte of B Sriramulu of BJP. But this time, the Congress is making all efforts to win the seat. The MLAs of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region have been asked to focus on campaigning in Bellary. A meeting has been convened on August 7.
While the party is not very confident of winning Shikaripur, where BJP leader B S Yeddyrappa’s son is contesting, it is not taking any chances in Chikodi-Sadalaga, which was held by the Congress till Prakash Hukkeri became the MP.
Bose Raj, Congress MLC and general secretary, said the final tour programme of the chief minister and Parameshwara would be finalised on Tuesday.
Asked whether action would be taken against the Congress workers who vandalised the party office in Bellary for not fielding their choice of candidate – Honnurappa-, Bose Raj said it was a non-issue because all the 17 people who had expressed their resentment have begun working for the official candidate – N Y Gopalakrishna.
He also said it was wrong to presume that the party has imposed an outsider as the candidate because the Gopalakrishna family belongs to Rampura near Bellary town. “Gopalakrishna was an outsider to Molakalmur but not to Bellary.
The party has bright chances of winning the seat this time because in the Lok Sabha elections, it had given good lead to the Congress though the seat has been won by the BJP,” he added.
