Hoskote: At Hoskote, some 30 km from capital Bengaluru, the Karnataka BJP has turned the bypoll for the assembly constituency into a battle of “pride and prestige”.
Hoskote is among the 15 Karnataka assembly constituencies that will witness bypolls on 5 December. The bypolls had been necessitated by the defection of Congress and JD(S) MLAs to the BJP in what was dubbed as ‘Operation Kamala (Lotus)’.
The defections in July brought down the fragile Congress-JD(S) government and propelled the BJP to power in the southern state. While the ruling party needs to win just six of the 15 constituencies to consolidate its position and attain a majority on its own, the bypolls are a litmus test of its strategy to poach MLAs from rival parties.
As such, Hoskote has been a microcosm of the BJP’s troubles in the run-up to the elections.
For one, its candidate, sitting MLA and former Congress minister N. Nagaraju, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Nagaraju, popularly called ‘MTB’ Nagaraju after his brick company Manjunath Table Bricks, is the richest candidate in the fray.
But in his latest affidavit with the Election Commission, filed on 19 November, he declared assets worth Rs 1,200 crore, showing he had grown richer by Rs 185.7 crore (an 18 per cent rise) in a matter of 18 months since the last assembly elections, when he had declared assets worth Rs 1,015 crore.
In August, a month after the Congress-JD(S) government fell, Nagaraju reportedly bought himself a Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII, the most expensive vehicle in India that costs nearly Rs 11 crore. All of this amid speculation that money had changed hands in bringing down the Congress-JD(S) government.
Nagaraju’s candidature has also split the local BJP unit, with Sharath Bache Gowda, the son of B.N. Bache Gowda, the party’s MP from Chikkaballapura, under which Hoskote falls, defying the party diktat and contesting as an Independent. Sharath, who is also backed by the JD(S), has since been expelled by the BJP for “not falling in line with party principles”. He had lost to Nagaraju in the 2018 assembly elections.
BJP workers on the ground have also been complaining that Nagaraju has been missing from the campaign. But the party’s state leadership is firmly behind their candidate and has made it a battle for pride. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa has visited the constituency thrice and at every campaign meeting, with folded hands, has sought the support of voters for Nagaraju. A number of ministers and senior party leaders have also made a beeline to the constituency.
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An erratic campaign
Unlike several BJP election campaigns where the party ensures large crowds to gather where the candidate is campaigning, the one in Hoskote seems quite hushed. One of the reasons is that Nagaraju’s style of seeking votes has left several senior BJP leaders exasperated. He has been operating on his own with his local machinery and rarely seeks the help of the BJP workers who have been deployed to help him.
A BJP worker in Hoskote told ThePrint that many a times they are unaware of where their candidate is and that this lack of coordination has been communicated to the state high command.
There have been public meetings where senior leaders such as Revenue Minister R. Ashoka, senior leader Katta Subramanya Naidu and Yelahanka MLA S.R. Vishwanath have addressed meetings in Hoskote seeking votes for Nagaraju without him sitting on the dais with them.
One such meeting was held at the C.S. Convention Hall in Hoskote on 26 November. While senior BJP leaders appealed to those present in the hall to vote for Nagaraju so that the party can provide a stable government for the next three years, the candidate was nowhere in sight.
“This for the first time that our party workers are working with rebels from the Congress and the JD(S). They are doing a good job,” R. Ashoka said at the meeting. “Nagaraju began his campaign much in advance and our party workers are there to help him when he needs it.”
A close aide of the BJP candidate, however, told ThePrint that his “boss” has his own style of campaigning. “Nagaraj sir will not come for such public events unless he is compelled to, like when the chief minister came to campaign for him,” the aide said. “He visits people in small groups and holds closed-door discussions.”
A confident candidate
Despite apparent teething troubles, Nagaraju told ThePrint that he was confident of winning as people have seen the development in the constituency and will re-elect him as an MLA.
He also appeared to be aware of the discontent in the local BJP unit. “Fifty per cent of BJP workers are supporting me, 35 per cent are supporting Sharath,” said Nagaraju when ThePrint caught up with him at Nandagudi village last week.
“With just a week to the election, you will see a lot of changes in the mindset of the BJP workers. I know a few of them are upset that I did not consult them before I switched parties. I appeal to them to work on my behalf.”
This is the fourth time that Nagaraju is contesting from Hoskote. He defeated his arch rival Bache Gowda in 2004, then with the JD(S) and who had held the seat since 1994. In the 2008 elections, Bache Gowda then with the BJP defeated Nagaraju.
In the 2013 elections, Nagaraju regained the seat from Bache Gowda.
By the 2018 elections, Bache Gowda made way for his son Sharath who ended up losing to Nagaraju, but by a mere 7,000 votes. The older Gowda won the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Chikkaballapura.
This time around, Nagaraju has a similar tough fight on his hands. Hoskote is a stronghold of the Vokkaligas, a dominant farmer caste in Karnataka, and Sharath belongs to the community. Sharath also has the backing of the JD(S), which traditionally represents the Vokkaligas.
Nagaraju, a Kuruba (an OBC caste), is unperturbed for now. He, instead, has his sights on a bigger target. “I had told Yediyurappa that if I join the BJP, I should be made a minister,” he told ThePrint. “They have made that promise and I am confident that I will win my seat and become one.”
On his campaign trail, he also makes it a point to slam the previous Kumaraswamy-led government.
“I appealed to Kumaraswamy several times to allocate funds for the constituency,” he told a gathering at one village. “I told him that over 1,200 borewells had gone dry and that there was a shortage of drinking water. I wanted him to divert water to us but it all fell on deaf ears.”
Nagaraju also spoke to ThePrint about the row he had caused during Operation Kamala. Then a close aide of former chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, Nagaraju held a press conference claiming he wasn’t leaving the party only to end up in the Mumbai hotel where the rebels were housed by the BJP the very next day.
Asked about what forced him to come change his mind overnight, he blamed Siddaramaiah, claiming the former CM had turned “toothless”.
“Siddaramaiah should have been a troubleshooter but he failed. In turn, he was unable to convince Kumaraswamy to provide grants for my constituency,” Nagaraju said. “How could I work for the people if money is not released? I told Siddaramaiah that I will resign as I was not prepared to be a ‘dummy’ MLA.”
The chief opponent
Among the front-runners in the constituency is Sharath. Since quitting the BJP after being denied the Hoskote ticket, Sharath has launched his own Swaabhimaani (self-respect) party.
Harping on Nagaraju’s riches, Sharath has made it a fight between money power and self-respect.
“Our family has an association with Hoskote for over six decades. Both my father and grandfather have served the people from this seat,” he said. “Before 2008, the BJP would manage just 2,000 votes in Hoskote taluka. But after my father joined the party, its vote share rose to around 98,000 in the recent election.
“That vote bank is still with us and none of them have gone to the BJP,” he added. “We are confident that we can carry forward the 98,000 votes that came in our favour.”
He further said that his family had a deep connection with villagers in the constituency and that prompted him to rebel against his father and contest as an Independent.
“I have rebelled against my father and gone against blood and stayed with my constituents and voters,” Sharath said, while campaigning at Kondralli village. “I believe they will accept me and ensure my win.”
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