Family war in Devadurga, former MLA's wife or son to fight bypoll
With JD (S) having lost its support base, like in the previous Assembly elections, the contest would be between Congress and BJP.
Kalaburagi: Devadurga Assembly constituency (R), where a bypoll would be held on February 13, is set to witness a redux of the 2013 contest within the family.
In a keenly contested electoral battle in 2013, Mr. A Venkatesh Naik had defeated his grandson K. Shivanagouda Naik, who contested on a BJP ticket by a margin of 3700 votes. In view of the vacancy caused by the demise of Mr Venkatesh Naik, his widow Savitramma or second son Rajashekar Naik, would take on Mr Shivangouda Naik of BJP.
With JD (S) having lost its support base, like in the previous Assembly elections, the contest would be between Congress and BJP. The ruling Congress, keen to retain the seat, could bank on the sympathy factor and therefore offer the ticket to either Mr Naik’s widow or younger son as his elder son B V Naik represents Raichur in Lok Sabha.
Mr Rajashekhar Naik, who is also president of Raichur district central cooperative bank, has been involved in the affairs of the party, for a long time. The district unit of Congress, however, seems divided on the issue of selecting the best candidate. While one group led by district Congress committee chief Vasanth Kumar is keen on fielding Mr Rajashekhar Naik, the rival faction led by KPCC general secretary N Boseraju seems to be toying with the idea of giving the ticket to Mr Venkatesh Naik’s widow Savitramma, a political novice. Both these groups are scheduled to submit their representations to the high command in a couple of days.
A senior KPCC leader, said the ruling party would in all probability field Mr Naik’s widow Savitramma. “This is keeping in view the experience as well as long laid tradition of the party. Our experience has been that in a by-election, the chances of deceased candidate’s wife faring better are more than any other family member. For example, we gave the ticket to Mrs Gowramma after the demise of Mr Kashappanavar in Hungund, though she was a novice in politics. In this case too the party is interested in fielding Mrs Venkatesh Naik”, the leader added.