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The State’s political circles are ready to see if the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raids on Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.{K}. Shivakumar and his brother D.{K}. Suresh, MP from Bengaluru Rural, will impact the result of the bypolls in Sira and Rajarajeshwari Nagar. In each constituencies, which have a sizeable Vokkaliga inhabitants, the CBI motion and its timing might turn into an element throughout polling, consider Congress leaders.
The Congress has been seeing a possibility to win the Sira seat because the Janata Dal (S), which held the seat until the demise of its legislator B. Satyanarayana, is grappling with too many aspirants, which may upset its probabilities. The Congress leaders in Tumakuru have additionally closed ranks, giving hopes of a victory for the celebration. The celebration can be working on a method to win the R.R. Nagar seat, the place the BJP is coping with two sturdy contenders for candidature.
“Though the politically motivated searches will not affect party’s election preparations, they might have an impact on the results. We are confident about both seats. That way we see today’s searches as a diversion from the protests over Hathras. This is also a message to leaders from an autocratic government,” stated KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre.
Party sources stated that Sira and R.R. Nagar have 60,000 and 72,000 Vokkaliga votes every, and the timing of the CBI searches might find yourself in a consolidation of Vokkaliga votes, moreover the normal Congress votes. It could also be recalled that Vokkaligas had taken out a mega protest rally in town following Mr. Shivakumar’s arrest in a cash laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate in September 2019. That solely labored for Mr. Shivakumar, because the Congress rallied behind him and he was appointed president of the KPCC in March 2020.
The latest CBI raids in the run-up to bypolls would possibly once more result in Vokkaliga consolidation in his favour, the Congress hopes and a few sections in the BJP worry. The saffron celebration being jittery over the raids assuming caste color was evident in how the celebration fielded Vokkaliga leaders to distance itself from the CBI motion. Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan and Ministers C.T. Ravi (who can be a BJP nationwide common secretary) and {K}. Sudhakar aggressively distanced the celebration from the raids.
Party strategists near the Chief Minister stated that the raids would undoubtedly impact on the caste equations in the 2 constituencies and that they had been working on methods to counter a consolidation of Vokkaligas in favour of the Congress. “D.K. Shivakumar is not the only Vokkaliga leader in the State. But he is prone to claim victimhood every time there is action against him by various agencies. We are aware that we need to counter this narrative that he puts forth,” a BJP strategist stated.
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