'Eshwarappa Training Guns at BJP, Not My Family': Raghavendra Hits Back as Shivamogga Battle Heats Up

The battle for Shivamogga in Karnataka is an intense one in Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Voting will take place on the Lok Sabha seat on May 7 in the third phase. Three-time MP BY Raghavendra, who is former chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s son, has been brimming with confidence even though he is faced with a rebellion from his father’s close political rival KS Eshwarappa, who has filed his nomination as an Independent.

Eshwarappa, the rebel BJP leader has called out “dynastic politics” in the party involving Yediyurappa and his sons. When asked how he is going to counter this rebellion on the field and whether Eshwarappa was trying to settle old political scores with his father BSY, Raghavendra laughed away, saying he will respond after the elections but “people will teach them a lesson.” Speaking to News18 while on campaign trail, he further attacked the Independent candidate for misusing Hindutva for his personal gain.

Raghavendra feels that his work as an MP over three terms will speak in his favour and Eshwarappa’s candidature against him will only hurt the latter’s chances. “The leader whose name you took in an event blessed me and said that I would win with over 5 lakh votes and even become a minister (union). But what happened within a span of two weeks? I don’t know. People will give the answer in this election,” said Raghavendra.

“He thinks he is showing a gun at our family, but he has not realised that he has actually shown it at our high command,” the incumbent MP said hitting back at Eshwarappa.

‘Not Parivaarwaad, Have Worked My Way Up’

Raghavendra added that the allegations of ‘parivaarwaad’ do not apply in his case. “When Nehru was PM, his daughter later became PM, they had family members in top posts in the Congress. When Rajiv Gandhi was PM, somebody from their party was the Congress party president, the same when it came to Sonia Gandhi. When she was president, Rahul Gandhi held a top post. The decisions taken by a family for a party within their homes are called pariwarvaad. In the BJP, the high command has decided, and every member of my family has worked their way up, from being ABVP karyakartas, contesting elections from ABVP to being an MP. So can that be called family politics,” he questioned.

BY Raghavendra on campaign trail in Shivamogga. (Image: News18)

Contesting the Lok Sabha elections for the fourth time, Raghavendra feels that this term, he has been satisfied with what he has delivered to his constituency. “At one of the villages, a person asked me how come my father (BSY) is not campaigning for me when in other parties, DK Shivakumar was campaigning for his brother in Bengaluru Rural, Siddaramaiah for Mysore. I told them my father Yediyurappa and brother who is state president have 100 percent confidence in my win. Our karyakartas are our strength and they will work in this election successfully,” he said.

Alliance With JDS

The BJP and the JDS are in alliance with each other in this election in Karnataka. When asked how much of coordination and cooperation the party workers of both parties are able to maintain, especially after having to have fought tooth and nail against each other in the 2023 assembly polls, the MP replied, “It is a historical decision. We have seen how respected Deve Gowda has been against our party, but later in front of Modi, he said that they joined hands with the BJP against the Congress. They are working with their heart and soul,” Raghavendra said.

BY Raghavendra is BJP candidate from Shivamogga. (Image: News18)

Interestingly, Ram Mandir and Hindutva are important election issues in Shimoga, with the BJP-JDS alliance candidates asking people to vote for Hindutva pride, Ayodhya, and Modi ‘Matomme’ (once again). Raghavendra, who was campaigning door to door in Bhadravathi, a seat that the BJP has never won since Independence, one that has been under the hold of the Congress and JDS, looked happy with the acceptance by voters there.

“The JDS alliance has helped. People also here are impressed with the way the Ayodhya temple was built. Even though the BJP has not won from here since Independence, every house from Bhadravathi sent a brick to Ayodhya to help build the temple. Ram Mandir has had an exceptional effect on people and their trust in Modi,” said the MP.

‘Congress is Cheating People’

Seeking re-election for the fourth time from the seat has also brought in an undercurrent of anti-incumbency against Raghavendra. Congress candidate Geetha Shivrajkumar is the daughter of former Karnataka chief minister S Bangarappa and sister of sitting Karnataka minister Madhu Bangarappa. She has been campaigning on how there is a need for change. Bringing airports or developing highways, like Raghavendra claims, would not contribute to developing the village, but bringing light into the lives of rural people like her father Bangarappa does, she said. She has been campaigning on the benefits of the Congress’s five guarantee schemes, but Raghavendra has called them an “utter failure”.

“They are taking money from one hand and handing it over through the other. A villager told me how after a hard day’s work he sits down for a drink. He pays Rs 50 as taxes on liquor to the government. He takes a couple of drinks which is Rs 100 and in turn spends Rs 3000 a month. Siddaramaiah takes the money from the husband and gives Rs 2000 to the wife claiming it is government money. Is that not outright cheating,” he asked.

As he ended his day’s campaign at a public function near the last village close to the Bhadra River Project dam, a multipurpose reservoir designed by Sir M Visvesvarayya and built in 1947, Raghavendra ensured he spoke of the alliance between the JDS and BJP. He called for the support of the JDS for the BJP for a new developed India under PM Modi. “Deve Gowda ji and Modi ji have a vision for India, and you are going to be part of it. Will you vote for it? When you do your morning pooja and wish for the welfare of your family, will you put one more flower in the name of Modi,” he appealed to the women voters among people chanting Modi and Deve Gowda’s name.