Hebbal: a prestige battle between old Congressmen and Chief Minister

More than a battle between parties, the byelection to the Hebbal Legislative Assembly constituency seems to have shaped into an extremely delicate battle for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. On the one hand, he was refused his choice of candidate for the seat, and on the other, he faces the risk of being blamed if there are any hiccups for the party candidate, C.K. Abdul Rahman Sharief, grandson of the former Railway Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief.

Mr. Sharief’s candidature is seen as an assertion by senior Congress leaders, including the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge, over Mr. Siddaramaiah, who wanted ticket to be given to Byrati Suresh, MLC, according to party insiders. Once the ticket was given to Mr. Sharief, several old Congressmen, known to have had differences with the Chief Minster, have put up a united show and campaigned intensively without a break for the last two weeks.

Campaign in charge

Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar has been the man in charge of the campaign and seems to be pulling all stops to make sure that the candidate wins, despite any possible differences with the Chief Minister or his loyalists.

During the run-up to the campaign, local Congress leaders said, “We are putting our hopes on Mr. Shivakumar’s strategy to counter the lack of acceptability of our candidate”. In the 2014 byelection in Ballari Rural Assembly constituency, the Congress, under the leadership of Mr. Shivakumar, wrested the seat vacated by the BJP strongman B. Sriramulu and earlier too, he has been seen as the “tough leader who can ensure victory even under difficult circumstance”, according to party insiders.

What seems to be telling on the campaign trail was the presence of leaders such as the former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, Oscar Fernandes, B.K. Hariprasad and Mr. Kharge, all of whom are believed to have opposed ticket to Mr. Suresh.

For his part, Mr. Siddaramaiah campaigned in Hebbal on the first day and on the last day on Thursday. At the grassroots level too the differences were palpable. Congress workers belonging to two groups abused and physically attacked each other on the day when Mr. Sharief filed his nomination papers. Later, supporters of MLC H.M. Revanna and Mr. Suresh shouted slogans against each other.

In this backdrop, the Chief Minister is in a tight spot as the victory of the candidate could be used by his rivals to send out a message that they can “pull off a win even without his support” and at the same time, a defeat could result in his loyalists being blamed.