30-year-old political rivalry sees 2 new faces for seat dominated by Lingayats

Aksheev Thakur

New Delhi, May 5

At a time when Karnataka is rocked by allegations of sexual abuse against politicians, two women in the Davangere Lok Sabha constituency in central Karnataka will make their debut in the parliamentary elections.

Debut for Cong, BJP candidates

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• BJP’s Gayathri Siddeshwara (69) and the Congress’ Dr Prabha Mallikarjun (48) will make their political debut, contesting for the Davangere Lok Sabha seat
• Gayathri is the wife of sitting Davanagere MP GM Siddeshwara, while Prabha is the wife of state Congress minister SS Mallikarjun

Taking the 30-year-old political rivalry ahead, BJP’s Gayathri Siddeshwara (69) and the Congress’ Dr Prabha Mallikarjun (48) will contest for the parliamentary seat. Both belong to prominent Lingayat families with Gayathri being the wife of sitting Davanagere MP GM Siddeshwara and Prabha the wife of state Congress minister SS Mallikarjun and daughter-in-law of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who, at the age of 92, was re-elected to the state Assembly last year.

While the Davangere Lok Sabha seat was won by Siddeshwara in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019, the Mallikarjun family has always won the state elections from Davangere North and Davangere South, the two Assembly segments.

The constituency is dominated by the Lingayats, followed by SC groups Lambanis, Gollas, Bhovis and Madigas; Valmiki Nayaks and Muslims.

While the BJP is consolidating Lingayat votes, the Congress is aiming to target SCs and Muslims. The welfare schemes of the state government have made the Congress confident of bagging the seat.

Of the eight Assembly segments under the Davangere Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress won seven.

Davangere Congress chief HB Manjappa said, “The BJP won the seat in 2014 due to PM Narendra Modi wave and in 2019 due to surgical strikes against Pakistan. This time, we are confident of winning the elections because we delivered welfare schemes like free electricity, free bus rides and monetary help to the unemployed.”

BJP district president Rajashekar said the development works carried out in the region by the Centre would fetch them votes. “The railway connectivity between Tumkuru and Davangere and several other development works in the region put us above the Congress,” he said.