Former chief minister and Janata Dal Secular leader Kumaraswamy is the NDA candidate in Mandya while Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar is spearheading Congress's campaign to win a big share of the 28 Lok Sabha seats from the state.

For Kumaraswamy, victory would mean regaining control over the Vokkaliga strongholds of Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Tumkur and Hassan. Shivakumar, the supremo in Ramanagara district, just would not want that to happen, keen as he is to emerge as the ultimate voice of the Vokkaligas.

Till recently, Kumaraswamy's father and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda held that honour. His word was gospel and people firmly stood behind the Janata parivar candidates. Even after the split in the Janata Dal, Deve Gowda had the support of the Vokkaliga community, with candidates who got JDS tickets deemed winners, especially in Mandya, Mysore, Hassan and Tumkur.

Deve Gowda enjoyed the love and affection of the community, more so after he became the first from Karnataka to become the prime minister. It was a matter of pride for the community. But with the generational shift, young leaders began to emerge, Shivakumar being one of them.

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Hailing from a nondescript Kanakapura village, he was groomed by Chandrashekhar, a veteran Congress leader. Humbled by Deve Gowda in his first assembly election, Shivakumar rose to be a winner subsequently, even though the Janata Dal stalwart again stood in his way in the 2002 Lok Sabha bypoll.

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Shivakumar slowly expanded his area of influence and entered Mandya district much to the Deve Gowda family’s ire. Swimming against the tide, Shivakumar gained control over the community, his rise in the granite industry standing him in good stead financially. He was also able to sway the young Vokkaliga voters his way even as Deve Gowda slowly lost his grip over the Vokkaliga-dominant district.

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The entry of his son and heir, Kumaraswamy into the scene stemmed the tide for a while but there has been a steady exodus of leaders from the family-centric JDS to Congress, with Shivakumar being the main architect of the shift. The KPCC president's popularity soared after he went on a padayatra from Kanakapura to Bengaluru, seeking implementation of the Mekedatu project, which spoke directly to the farmers’ fears of a water crisis.

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While the JDS's newfound alliance with the BJP is seen as a last-ditch effort by Kumaraswamy to win back the Vokkaliga dominant districts from Congress, it seems to have come a tad late, with Shivakumar's men holding sway in virtually every district.

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A win for Kumaraswamy will definitely consolidate the JDS position in these districts while a loss would be akin to surrendering the kingdom. No wonder, both Kumaraswamy and Deve Gowda are putting in all out efforts to prevent the Congress leader from prising their last bastion out of their grip.

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