Sonia vs Sushma in Bellary

BELLARY (Karnataka), Aug 18 (PTI) — After high suspense and drama, the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, today filed her nomination papers from Bellary Lok Sabha constitu0ency but in a surprise move, the BJP fielded a former Delhi Chief Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, against her.

Mrs Gandhi, who flew into this traditional Congress bastion by a helicopter from Hyderabad, filed four sets of papers at 2.20 pm, 40 minutes prior to the close of nominations, bringing to an end all speculation that she may make her maiden electoral foray from Cuddapah in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

Shortly after, the BJP brought in Ms Swaraj to file her nomination, making it a high voltage contest in the otherwise staid constituency, which had returned the Congress since 1952. High drama preceded Mrs Gandhi’s arrival here with the party General Secretary, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, giving all indications that she may go to Cuddapah to file her nominations. Last night too, on arrival in Hyderabad, he gave similar indications.

Former Delhi Chief Minister Sushma Swaraj filing her nomination papers from the Bellary Lok Sabha constituency.

Mrs Gandhi was accompanied by Mr Azad and the Karnataka PCC President Mr S. M. Krishna, when she filed the papers before the Returning Officer, Mr Raj Kamal.

Ms Swaraj, who had said she was not contesting the coming Lok Sabha elections, made a dramatic appearance before the Returning Officer and submitted her papers. She was accompanied by the party General Secretary Mr M.Venkaiah Naidu.

The Congress had kept the choice of Bellary for Mrs Sonia Gandhi a closely guarded secret with even Mr K. C. Kondaiah, who had been renominated as the party’s candidate on Monday for the seat, claiming ignorance about it.

As the news of Ms Gandhi filing her nomination papers from here broke out, Congress workers went delirious with joy and burst crackers in front of the party headquarters in Bangalore.

Mrs Gandhi had kicked off the party’s campaign in Bellary last month, a couple of days after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule, giving first indication that she was testing the waters for a possible electoral contest from this iron ore-rich district.

The BJP appeared ready for the development and rushed Ms Sushma Swaraj, considered one of the staunchest critics of the Congress President, to Bellary to file her papers.

Ms Swaraj, who represented South Delhi in the dissolved 12th Lok Sabha, was the Information and Broadcasting Minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government.

She was the Communication Minister for a while and was instrumental in pushing through the corporatisation plans of the Department of Telecommunications.

Ms Gandhi’s selection of Bellary appears to be a well-thought out move as no Congress candidate has tasted defeat from this constituency, bordering Andhra Pradesh.

Even people considered outsiders, like noted economist V. K. R. V. Rao and three-time MP Basavarajeshwari, won with good margins.

However, in the previous Lok Sabha poll, the candidates of Mr Ramakrishna Hegde’s Lok Shakti and Janata Dal had together polled more votes than the Congress candidate, Mr Kondaiah.

Bellary constituency, fast emerging as a major steel belt in South Asia, comprises the eight assembly segments of Siruguppa, Kurugodu, Sandur, Kottur, Kudligi, Hadagali, Harapanahalli and Bellary.

Though Mr Kondaiah was renominated by the party high command on Monday, with Ms Gandhi's decision to contest the seat, probably in addition to Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, the task of the Lok-Shakti-JD (U) combine would become more difficult to break the Congress stranglehold.

Bellary, which was part of Madras state earlier, is one of the hottest places in Karnataka. A haven for small-scale units of late, the constituency has about 11.78 lakh voters, of which nearly six lakh are women.

Though not used to star status in the past, this Lok Sabha seat has had its brush with glory in the past with the first ever MP from here being Tekur Subramanyam, who served as Political Secretary to Pt Jawaharlal Nehru.

It will not be a cakewalk
From Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 18 — Statistics of the previous two elections do not show Bellary, the constituency chosen by Mrs Sonia Gandhi, as an easy seat for the Congress, the party’s unbeaten record of retaining the seat without a break since 1957 notwithstanding.

In 1996, the party had retained this seat by a margin of mere 4,519 votes. Mr K.C. Kondaiah, who had been nominated as a red herring for the seat this time as well, had defeated Mr N. Thippanna, then contesting on the Janata Dal ticket, by 4,519 votes in 1996; and again in 1998, Mr Thippanna, contesting on the Lok Shakti ticket, finished second, but the margin increased to 63,738 votes. However, the 2,84,909 votes polled by Mr Kondaiah compared poorly against the combined total of 4,08,163 of Lok Shakti’s Mr Thippanna (2,21,171) and the Janata Dal’s Mr Y. Nettakallappa (1,86,992).

The Lok Shakti and Janata Dal are together now. And they are backing the BJP candidate, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, in Bellary. Thus, while the BJP has no past history of contesting the seat, its candidate can draw solace from the sound base of votes polled in Bellary by its new allies in Karnataka in the previous election. In percentage terms, the Congress had won the seat by polling just over 43 per cent votes; the bulk of the 57 per cent polled against the Congress will be available to the BJP this time.

After nominating Mrs Sushma Swaraj, the BJP today announced that she had been asked by the party leadership late last night to contest against Mrs Sonia Gandhi. "As a loyal and disciplined soldier of the BJP, Mrs Sushma Swaraj agreed and airdashed to Bangalore to file her nomination papers", a party press release said.

The BJP’s campaign pitch was clear today. A party handout said, "Choice for Bellary: An experienced Indian parliamentarian versus a person of foreign origin!"

Thus the choice of opposing Mrs Sonia Gandhi in her first-ever bid for an elected office has fallen on a woman born in Ambala Cantonment.

Mrs Swaraj began her political career as a Socialist and later shifted to the BJP. She has been an MLA in Haryana and was the State’s Education Minister in 1987. Later, she has been member of both Houses of Parliament and was made a Cabinet Minister in the Vajpayee government. Like the proverbial boy on the burning deck, she was chosen by her party to be the Chief Minister of Delhi on the eve of last year’s assembly elections. The defeat of the party saw her being eclipsed, albeit temporarily.

She had declared that she would not contest the 1999 Lok Sabha elections and, therefore, Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra was nominated by the BJP from South Delhi. In hindsight, for Mrs Sushma Swaraj, perhaps it has been a case of going from the frying pan to fire — in South Delhi —where she would have faced Dr Manmohan Singh; in Bellary, she has been chosen to oppose Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

Considering that the BJP relied upon Mrs Sushma Swaraj when Mr Sahib Singh resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi in October 1998 and has again put her on the burning deck, like Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee of the Fifties, she is emerging as her party’s candidate for all seasons.