Bengaluru, 7 April

The BJP and Congress upped the ante on the last day of campaigning for the bypolls in Davangere South and Bagalkot assembly constituencies, trading personnel barbs and saying that the results would determine the future of their opponent.

The bypolls scheduled for 9 April were necessitated following the demise of sitting Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and HY Meti, who represented Davangere South and Bagalkot constituencies respectively.

The Congress has fielded Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s grandson and Karnataka Minister SS Mallikarjun’s son Samarth Shamanur in Davangere South and HY Meti’s son Umesh Meti in Bagalkot. They are locked in a direct contest with BJP candidates T Dasakariyappa and Veerabhadrayya Charantimath.

BJP’s R Ashoka, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said the results of the bypolls in the constituencies will decide the future of the ruling Congress in the State. He said that the polls were a contest between the poor and the rich.

“Since Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has said ‘Make the poor win’, the BJP has fielded poor candidates,” he said in a press conference.

In Davanagere, the BJP has given a ticket to an ordinary person, whereas Congress has given tickets to powerful and influential people. In Bagalkot, there is a very good opinion about the BJP candidate, he added.

The Congress has given space to dynastic politics in both places. Therefore, the BJP has a strong chance of winning in both constituencies, he said. He also alleged that the Congress’s minority appeasement would not work.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi took it to the next level when he said that economically weaker sections and young women are being targeted in what he termed a "Love Jihad" conspiracy in Karnataka.

The Davangere seat has a prominent minority presence.

Meanwhile, the Congress countered by attacking the Centre government over its handling of the oil crisis amid the West Asia war and said that the voters would teach the BJP a lesson.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar alleged that: “the BJP has hatched a major conspiracy to somehow stop these guarantee schemes that hold the hands of the poor. The BJP's anti-people behaviour is condemnable. The people will give a fitting response to this trickery,” he said on Tuesday in Davangere.

He also said that “time will tell” if the State will see a new CM after the bypolls.