Two women from central Karnataka’s Davangere Lok Sabha seat will run for parliament at a time when accusations of sexual assault against politicians are rocking the state.
Cong and BJP candidates’ debuts
In the race for the Davangere Lok Sabha seat, the BJP’s Gayathri Siddeshwara (69) and the Congress’ Dr. Prabha Mallikarjun (48) will make their political debuts. Gayathri is the wife of current Davanagere MP GM Siddeshwara, while Prabha is the wife of state Congress minister SS Mallikarjun.
The BJP’s Gayathri Siddeshwara (69) and the Congress’ Dr. Prabha Mallikarjun (48) will face off for the parliamentary seat, continuing their thirty-year political struggle. Gayathri, the wife of current Davanagere MP GM Siddeshwara, and Prabha, the wife of state Congress minister SS Mallikarjun and the daughter-in-law of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who, at ninety-two, was re-elected to the state Assembly last year, are both from well-known Lingayat families.
Although Siddeshwara won the Davangere Lok Sabha seat in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019, the Mallikarjun family has consistently won the state elections from the two Assembly constituencies, Davangere North and Davangere South.
The Lingayats are the largest community in the constituency, followed by Muslims, Valmiki Nayaks, Lambanis, Gollas, and Madigas from the SC.
The Congress wants to attack Muslims and SCs, while the BJP is trying to consolidate Lingayat voters. The state government’s social programs have increased Congress’s confidence in winning a seat.
The Congress won seven of the eight Assembly seats that make up the Davangere Lok Sabha constituency.
“The BJP won the seat in 2014 due to PM Narendra Modi wave and in 2019 due to surgical strikes against Pakistan,” said HB Manjappa, leader of the Davangere Congress. We are optimistic about winning this election because we implemented social programs that provide free energy, free bus tickets, and financial assistance to the jobless.
Rajashekar, the president of the BJP district, said that the Center’s development efforts in the area will win them votes. “We are superior to the Congress because of the railway link between Tumkuru and Davangere as well as several other development projects in the area,” he said.