It’s a do-or-die for BJP’s Thippareddy in Chitradurga

Bengaluru: BJP’s Thippareddy has been an MLA for five consecutive terms and was a member of the Parishad once in the Chitradurga assembly constituency of fort city with historical background. This time they are on the verge of winning a double hat-trick. In the last election, he won against the rival JDS candidate Virendra Pappi by a margin of more than 25,000 votes.

This time, Veerendra Pappi is contesting for Congress and Thippareddy is the BJP candidate. Even though he is 75 years old, the BJP has nominated Thippareddy for being a winning horse. Thus, this time too, Thippareddy, who is campaigning with the idea of development and claiming to be his last election, dreams of winning and becoming a minister in the upcoming government.

BJP is trying to take advantage of Congress rebel candidates. Congress is also struggling to win the hearts of the people by making allegations around Thippareddy. Similarly, the JDS candidate is also trying to build a vote bank by focusing on farmers and workers in various ways. But in the end, the big question is who will the voter of fort city vote for.

In 1994 and 1999, GH Thippareddy contested as an Independent candidate twice and won. Thippareddy, who joined the Congress in 2004, entered the Legislative Assembly as a hat-trick MLA. In 2008, JDS candidate SK Basavarajan won against Thippareddy and became an MLA.

Having won two consecutive terms from BJP in 2013 and 2018, Thippareddy holds the title of the party’s oldest MLA. Even though he is 75 years old, he got the BJP ticket for the sole reason that he is a winning horse and now he is entering the arena of 2023 elections pretending that this is his last election.

The individual vote bank is in favour of Thippareddy. He is a local candidate and development work has been done in rural areas. For the first time in Chitradurga Municipal Council, BJP got the power and all the unorganized communities got a place to live. He is always in touch with all small communities and it has been his vote bank. The central government has earmarked Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Upper Project in the budget, which may help the BJP.

He has 40% commission charge allegation levelled by a contractor and the audio was released. Plus there is outrage over poor and unscientific road construction. Casino tycoon Virendra Pappi is in the fray as a Congress candidate. The development work during the Siddaramaiah government is a boon to the candidate. The number of Muslim voters is high and the Ahinda votes in favour of the Congress are crucial.There was confusion in the selection of the Congress candidate and a possibility of rebel aspirants turning their back to Congress candidate Pappi will be a setback. There is a lack of unity among the first line Congress leaders. Newcomers and migrants from other places have been selected as candidate in the constituency.

JDS Candidate Raghu Achar was a two-time MLC from Congress, he is well known to people in Chitradurga constituency. It is easy to reach voters through Gram Panchayat members. Last time, the JDS candidate got second place. Raghu Achar is accused of not meeting people when he was MLC. Raghu Achar has joined JDS after not getting Congress ticket. They are labelled as migrants. There are a total of 2,62,700 voters in the constituency out of which 1,29,255 are male and 1,32,411 are female. There are 34 others.