Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, May 11: All eyes in this election are on constituency No 65, the Shirahatti assembly seat. Karnataka state’s political history reveals that whichever party won this seat in Gadag, it went on to form the government in the state, for the last 46 years.
The bizarre correlation between the party winning seat and forming government began in 1972 with WV Vadirajcharya of the Congress winning the seat and Devraj Urs of the party becoming the chief minister.
Shirahatti was a Congress stronghold till 1983, until sitting MLA Upanal Gulappa Fakeerappa contested as an independent and won. He announced to support Janata Party and Ramkrishna Hegde from the party was sworn in as the chief minister. Again in 1985, Janata Party won making Hegde the CM for the second time.
It was in 1989, Congress regained foothold in Shirahatti and Veerendra Patil of the Congress became the CM. However, when riots broke out in Karnataka, Rajiv Gandhi removed Patil and this became a major drawback for the party.
In 1994, the seat was taken over by GM Mahantashettar of the Janata Dal after defeating Fakeerappa who again had contested as an independent. HD Deve Gowda ruled the state as the CM. However, Congress again made Shriahatti its bastion in 1999 and also formed government with SM Krishna as the chief minister.
For all those who believe that all the above are a string of coincidences, the 2004 election gives an interesting twist. Congress lost the majority but won the Shirahatti seat. Surprisingly, Congress formed the government in alliance with Janata Dal (Secular) of Deve Gowda. However, the government did not last long as Devegowda’s son HD Kumaraswamy joined hands with the BJP but the coalition ended in a failure.
BJP opened its account in Shirahatti assembly seat for the first time in 2008 and BS Yeddyurappa was sworn in as the chief minister. In 2013, Congress won the seat and Siddaramaiah became the CM.
Hence people who have observed this trend believe that the Shirahatti seat is the key which will decide the next government.
In this year's electoral fight, BJP's Ramappa Sobeppa Lamani is challenging sitting Congress MLA Doddamani Ramakrishna Shidlingappa. In the previous poll, Lamani lost to Shidlingappa with just 315 votes.
Does Karnataka’s fate lie in the hands of the 2 lac voters from the constituency? Will the 'coincidence' repeat? Only time will tell.