'Betrayal' is the theme here after Sreeramulu's shock entry

The issues in

Molakalmuru

, the last taluk along Karnataka's border with Andhra Pradesh, are as stark as the perennial drought here. The contest is all about betrayal of a mentor, and the insider versus the outsider.


This constituency would have remained a nondescript one had BJP MP B

Sreeramulu

not entered the fray. The BJP central leadership's move to mop up votes of the Valmiki (ST) community, to which Sreeramulu belongs, from the adjoining districts of Davanagere, Koppal, Ballari and Raichur, seems to have boomeranged.

Acknowledged as a leader of the Valmiki community, Sreeramulu is facing the ire of a majority of the locals for having "betrayed" his follower and sitting MLA

S Thippeswamy

. The latter had won the seat on a BSR (Congress) ticket, the party floated by Sreeramulu and now merged with BJP.

Supporters of Thippeswamy, who was a school teacher before entering electoral politics, said Sreeramulu had on several occasions assured their leader that whatever happens, he would not step into his constituency as a candidate and the ticket would be given to him. Angry supporters of Thippeswamy tried to attack Sreeramulu's supporters while filing nominations. That anger has now branded Sreeramulu the outsider in the constituency.

Barring Sreeramulu, who is from Ballari, the three other principal candidates - Thippeswamy, B

Yogesh Babu

(Congress) and

Yattinahatti Gouda

(JD-S) - are from Molakalmuru. Thippeswamy had won in 2013 with a good margin of 69,658 votes, defeating NY Gopalakrishna of Congress. The latter, an aspirant for the ticket again, moved to BJP after he failed to get the ticket.

Stretching it further, the divide is seen between the Myasa Nayakas, to which Thippeswamy, Congress and JD(S) candidates belong, and Ooru Nayakas, represented by Sreeramulu.

According to a BJP functionary, the local party unit is unhappy over Sreeramulu having "imported" workers from Ballari to campaign. This has resulted in the BJP unit here getting fragmented with some staying back with Thippeswamy and the others joining Congress or JD(S).

The mainstay of the people here is weaving of the famous Molakalmuru saris and blankets, but now, the industry is on a downslide. Rangappa, 40, a resident, said the drinking water crisis has not been tackled and the Swachh Abhiyan to construct toilets has been a failure.

In the four-cornered contest, Sreeramulu and Thippeswamy have pushed the other two into the background. "If Thippeswamy was given the ticket again, he would have been defeated. There is no question of betrayal either as I have a special relationship with the people of Molakalmuru. I am not confined to any district," said Sreeramulu.

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