The by-election triggered by the death of a senior Congress leader has turned politically fraught in Davangere South, where the party’s choice of Samarth Chamanur has drawn opposition from sections of the minority community and led to open rebellion within its ranks.
The Congress leadership’s decision to appoint Samarth Chamanur, grandson of late Chamanur Shivashankarappa, met with resistance from leaders who expected the ticket to go to a Muslim candidate in the constituency. This discontent crystallized on Monday when Sadiq Bilawan, a longtime colleague of the late leader, entered the race as an independent.
With the support of his supporters, including local minority leaders, Sadiq marched to file his candidacy, announcing that he would not step down. “The Congress high command promised to give me a ticket. Since that promise was false, I entered the fray as a rebel candidate. I am ready to fight the elections as a rebel candidate. I will not withdraw from the fray for any reason,” he said.
He framed his candidacy as a response to what he described as deficient safeguards and neglect of the aspirations of minorities. “I have been a disciple and son of Shamanwar Shivashankarappa for 40 years. I worked hard to help him win six elections. Even after Shivashankarappa is gone, the hope that minorities will get a chance to contest is a lie. Congress leaders have shown negligence in accepting applications from ticket aspirants,” he said.
Rejecting the possibility of reconciliation, he said: “I will not succumb to the pressure of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. This is a decision that has gone beyond the stage of discussion and negotiation. The minorities, backward and scheduled castes and tribal communities in the constituency are behind me. I am fully confident of winning the elections.”
The repercussions extended beyond one nomination. More than 20 minority and youth leaders have joined the BJP in recent days, citing dissatisfaction with the Congress’ decision. Some of them said they would work to mobilize more support against the Congress Party candidate.
The state BJP has sought to hype the issue, portraying Congress’ move as an example of dynastic politics dominating community representation. Party leader and retired IPS officer Bhaskara Rao criticized the selection, saying it ignored the expectations of Muslims in the constituency.
“The Congress party resorts to family politics while talking about sympathizing with Muslims when it comes to power or distribution of election tickets. Therefore, the Muslim community should support the BJP and RJD at least now instead of supporting the Congress unconditionally. If they sympathize with these parties as well, they can prevent injustice being done to their community,” he said.
Asked if the BJP would offer representation, he said: “We give good standing to leaders of the Muslim community. Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys good relations with Muslim countries and has received the highest civilian awards given by their governments.”
Congressional leaders defended their decision, saying it was based on electoral considerations. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the party relied on internal assessments before naming its candidate.
“We have all filed nominations with Samarth. Instead of going abroad for education, he stood here for public service. We have done some calculations and declared the candidate. We have filed MLAs for minorities three times. There are many opportunities ahead of us. We will give them a place,” he said.
The party also indicated that it would try to communicate with opposition leaders. “We will give confidence to Sadiq Pelawan. We will hold another round of talks when the election campaign comes,” the Congress candidate said, while admitting that many aspirants had sought the ticket.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah defended the party’s broader approach, saying: “We do not see this class or that class. The Congress party is a party that includes everyone. The party that does what it says is the Congress party. We have implemented five guarantee schemes. The state has ranked first in implementing the five guarantee schemes.”
The Prime Minister affirmed the party’s confidence in retaining the seat, adding: “We have won by a large margin in the last three by-elections. People have confidence in us. We will win this election 100%.”
