Can Datta repeat the big win of 2013?

Chikkamagaluru: Senior Janata Dal(S) leader, Y.S.V. Datta , who is contesting from the Kadur constituency, had made it to the assembly for the first time in 2013 with a large victory margin of 42,433 votes against Karnataka Janata Party’s Belli Prakash,  but will he be able to maintain the same lead in 2018?

Although Mr Datta is a Brahmin, with less than a thousand voters of his community in the constituency ,  he was supported by all castes and communities the last elections, including the Kurubas and Lingayats, who form the major chunk of voters and the Telugu Gowdas (Vokkaligas) and the Uppars.

It is believed he won a “sympathy vote”  having lost successive elections in the past, but this time it is his performance of the last five years that will count. And some say he has let down voters by his lack of contribution to the constituency. 

“What has he done for Kadur over the last five years?  People have lost faith in him,” say some of his detractors, recalling the efforts of late MLA, Krishnamurthy of the Congress to get Kadur water from the Bhadra reservoir. But JD(S) workers rush to his defence ,maintaining he has done his best to develop the constituency.

However, everyone agrees that Mr Datta is facing a tough competition from Mr Belli Prakash, who is from the dominant Lingayat community and Mr Anand of the Congress, who is a Kuruba.

The constituency could be heading for a close finish with the winner enjoying only a slender margin of victory, according to some.