Karnataka 2023 polls: Is Mandya heading for triangular contest?

Congress and JDS are not taking BJP lightly after PM Modi's recent visit to Mandya.

Like in the 2019 election, the stage seems to be set for a lot of drama in Mandya in the upcoming Karnataka elections.

Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway, the three leading parties are now getting to field their best candidates to win Mandya. The support of Mandya MP Sumalatha to the BJP has only made battle ground tough for Congress and JDS.

Historically, the battle in Mandya Assembly Constituency has always been between Congress and JDS. However, PM Modi's recent visit and Sumalatha's support have made Congress and JDS not take the saffron party, lightly.

In fact, unconfirmed reports have claimed that BJP is willing to field Sumalatha from the Mandya constituency.

If the rumours are to be believed, HD Kumaraswamy himself is prepping up to contest in Mandya along with Channapatna. Former PM and JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda had a meeting with six legislators from the Mandya region after PM Modi's visit.

HD Kumaraswamy's wife Anitha Kumaraswamy will be vacating her Ramanagar seat to Nikhil Gowda.

On the other hand, Congress is considering Ramya's candidature for the Mandya polls. It may be recalled that she had won the by-election Lok Sabha in 2013. However, she had lost the polls in the general elections which was held, six months later.

Is HDK Worried About BJP?
HD Kumaraswamy has slammed the BJP for putting up an arch showcasing Vokkaliga warriors Uri Gowda and Dodda Nanjegowda at the entrance of Mandya during PM Modi's visit to Mandya. Though it was replaced with the one of Sri Balagangadharanatha Swamiji, a section of people had come down heavily on the BJP.

The former Karnataka CM attacked the BJP in a series of tweets.

He wrote, "BJP, which is spreading poison in the minds of the people with fiction and lies, has fallen on the wrongdoers for the time being. It is also true that there is a hidden agenda
@BJP4Karnataka that the self-respecting wrongdoers should be taken down somehow,"

He then claimed that the creation of "false" characters Urigowda and Nanjegowda is part of this grand conspiracy and accused the BJP of committing a heinous act of stigmatizing the Okkaliga community through fictitious Okkaliga names created as the killers of Tipu, pushing them into "a vicious cycle of historical negativity."

It is treachery to hide the name of the previous revered Sri Sri Bala Gangadharnath Mahaswamiji to build the arch of fictitious names, he added.

He also criticised producer and MLA Muniratna for his plans on making movies on Uri Gowda and Nanje Gowda. "Will BJP National General Secretary Sri CT Ravi write the story for Muniratna's movie? C. T. Ravi, who is raising poison against the caste he was born under the pretext of Tipu, is raising @BJP4India under the guise of fictitious names like Urigowda and Nanje Gowda," Kumaraswamy claimed.