V. Somanna compares Govindarajanagar under BJP and Varuna under Congress

T. Narasipur/Nanjangud: Karnataka BJP veteran V. Somanna has his task cut out with the party High Command entrusting him with the ambitious task of ousting Congress heavyweight Siddharamaiah from his home bastion of Varuna.

Somanna is sparing no effort in wooing voters with a promise of making Varuna a model constituency like Govindarajanagar of Bengaluru which Somanna has represented previously.

Through his election speeches, road shows and rallies, Somanna is comparing the 15-year ‘development’ of Govindarajanagar under the BJP with the 15-year ‘lack of development’ of Varuna under Congress.

Varuna is at present represented by Siddharamaiah’s MLA-son Dr. Yathindra Siddharamaiah and is the safest seat that Siddharamaiah can win. The Constituency falls under the Chamarajanagar Lok Sabha Constituency where in the last Lok Sabha election, the BJP candidate V. Sreenivasa Prasad won.

Planning his strategies well, Somanna is holding road shows in remote areas — walking amidst voters where vehicles cannot move — in his attempt to gain ground in the former CM’s home turf. The Constituency has a considerable Lingayat population. It has around 60,000 Lingayats, 65,000 Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities and over 36,000 Kurubas and 13,000 Vokkaligas.

By entering remote areas of the Constituency and focusing on ‘the lack of development’ during the Congress rule, Somanna is trying his best to woo the voters from the backward classes, Dalits and minorities who are a deciding factor in every election, though Lingayats are a majority.

Owing to the contest between two heavyweights, Varuna has become a high-voltage Constituency and both Siddharamaiah and Somanna are connecting with the voters in their own way. On their part too, the people of Varuna are giving unprecedented support to Somanna and are assembling in large numbers to hear him out in the wake of the ‘outsider’ remark made  by Siddharamaiah.

Appealing to voters to give him one chance, the BJP candidate said, “I am new to Varuna but I promise to repeat the work carried out in Govindarajanagar in Bengaluru with respect to development. You have given 15 years to father and son (Siddharamaiah and Dr. Yathindra Siddharamaiah). All I seek is one term or 5 years to make a difference.”

“There is not even a Taluk Kendra for Varuna. Within days, I have realised the shortcomings in Varuna and if elected, I will prepare a blueprint and chalk out an action plan to maximise infrastructure and bring about the change you all seek. Varuna is poised for overall development it has not seen since the last 15 years,” he said.