Click to play videoBangalore: It’s a battle within the battle. As Karnataka goes to polls for Phase 2 on Friday, all eyes are on Shikaripura in Shimoga district of Karnataka.
The results of this constituency will be closely watched as former Congress strongman and one time chief minister S Bangarappa of SP is taking on BJP's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa.
For Bangrappa, this is an opportunity to revive a flagging political career. With the Congress and the JD(S) backing him, Bangrappa hopes he’ll become a rallying point for the anti-BJP forces in the state. The 75-year-old flombayont leader has won 11 elections in the region since 1967.
"Everybody thinks that he (Yeddyurappa) is a powerful leader. If I defeat him, I will become a more powerful leader,” he says.
Faced with a formidable rival, Yeddyurappa isn't taking any chances either. He isn't ready to forget the bitter experience of 1999 when Bangarappa's handpicked candidate defeated him.
This time around, he is touring every small village in his constituency. A five time MLA, Yeddyurappa remains confident that his stature as the BJP's chief ministerial hopeful will be his trump card.
“I will get 75 to 80 per cent votes. I will win,” he says.
For Shikaripura, a small town on the foothills of Western Ghats, being a VIP constituency offers the hope that whoever wins, the area might benefit.
“Both of them have done something. They are our big leaders,” says a voter Naveed Javed.
While victory for Bangarappa would make him the giant killer of Karnataka, for Yeddyurappa, it’s the springboard for another shot at chief ministership.
The problem, as they both realise, only one of them can win.
It is an election that shows Indian politics at its convenient best - when political parties put up and withdraw candidates to suit vested interests and where pride, ego, prestige and vindictive politics are more important than the welfare.
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