LS polls: In Bangalore Rural, Congress-JD (S) rivalry, two Dr Manjunaths

The Bangalore Rural constituency, carved out of the Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat in 2009, has been a bone of contention between the respective Vokkaliga leaderships of the JD (S) and Congress, the Gowdas who lead the Janata Dal (Secular) and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and his brother DK Suresh, respectively.  
 

In 2019, the Congress lost all but one of Karnataka’s 28 Lok Sabha seats, that of Bangalore Rural. Suresh defended the seat that he had first won in a bypoll in 2013 when the sitting MP, Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Kumaraswamy, resigned after he was elected to the Karnataka Assembly that year. Suresh again won the seat in 2014 and is the party’s candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Against him, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded C N Manjunath, a cardiologist and son-in-law of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, whose party and the BJP are now allies. Both Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar are legislators from Assembly constituencies that fall within the Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha seat, Channapatna and Kanakapura, respectively.

Kumaraswamy is campaigning in earnest for his brother-in-law, while Shivakumar is doing the same for his brother. Interestingly, another Dr CN Manjunath, who holds an honorary doctorate, is in the fray as the candidate of the largely unheard of Mumbai-based Bahujan Bharat Party. Manjunath, the cardiologist, has accused his opponents of employing such tricks as they are sceptical about their chances. Earlier this month, the Bahujan Samaj Party accused the Congress of “forcing” its representative to withdraw his candidature. Kumaraswamy won the Kanakapura Lok Sabha seat in 1996.

In a bypoll in 2002, after the sitting Congress MP passed away, Deve Gowda defeated Shivakumar from the seat. The constituency votes in the second phase on April 26.