K'taka: Cong's wins to open door for D K Shivakumar?

Bangalore, Aug 23: It's official. The prestigious political battle between former prime minister and JD(S) president H D Devegowda and senior Congress leader D K Shivakumar came to end with the Congress winning in both the Lok Sabha by-polls which fell vacant after the JD(S) MPs from Bangalore Rural and Mandya quit to join Karnataka assembly after the May election.

It was direct 'do or die' battle between the Congress and the combined opposition by JD(S), BJP and KJP. The lone Samajwadi Party MLA Yogeesgwara and the Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha (farmers' party) legislator K S Puttanniah supported the Congress.

Also it was a proxy battle fought between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and former PM H D Deve Gowda's family with Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha pitched in against Shiva Kumar's brother D K Suresh Kumar.

With D K Suresh winning by a wide margin, the image of Shivakumar has automatically gone high and the party High Command which did not permit him a cabinet berth, may change its mind and include him in the state cabinet.

It was in 1985 that Congress leader Shivakumar had first contested against H D Deve Gowda from the then Sathanur Assembly segment as a Congress candidate. Though Gowda won, he "deserted" Sathanur as he got elected from Holenarsipur Assembly as well. In the by-election, Shivakumar got elected from the seat.

In the 1989 Lok Sabha election, Shivakumar again contested against Gowda from Kanakapura constituency and lost. He was again defeated by Gowda's son H D Kumaraswamy in Sathanur Assembly constituency in the 1994 Assembly polls.

D K Shivakumar slowly gained the hold in the Bangalore Rural regio. In this year's Assembly elections, Shivakumar defeated senior JD(S) leader P G R Sindhia by a huge margin from Kanakapura constituency.

When the Lok Sabha bypolls for two Bangalore Rural and Mandya were announced following the resignation of two JD(S) MPs, the Congress asked Shivakumar to field his brother Suresh as the party could not find any suitable candidate to fight against former PM H D Deve Gowda's daughter in-law Anitha Kumaraswamy.

Shivakumar, who faced the the litmus test with fielding his brother from Bangalore (Rural) constituency against Anitha Kumaraswamy now made his way easy to enter Siddaramaiah's cabinet with his brother winning the by-poll by over a lakh votes margin.

According to the party insiders, it was the coincidence that the Lok Sabha by-poll held on the 100th day of Siddu's government and has also quoted that the result of both the constituencies will make a huge impact on his leadership.

Now with this wins Congress captured both the Lok Sabha constituencies which are strongholds of the Janata Dal(S), sent a strong message to all its opposition parties that the Congress is preparing hard for the the Lok Sabha election in 2014.

In Mandya constituency, Congress candidate Ramya (actual name Divya Spandana) won by a margin of over 66,000 votes against JD(S) candidate C S Puttaraju.

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