Lok Sabha polls: Tempered pitch as families slug it out in Shimoga

BJP strongman BS Yeddyurappa tears into a roti for another bite, creases his brow, and says, "My rivals are fighting for the second and third spot." He has just come to Jade mutt in Soraba taluk for a late lunch after delivering a speech about the welfare programmes he had launched when he was the CM.
That is the cockiest he can get in campaigning this time.Pollsters and party supporters do agree that Yeddyurappa seems a much mellowed man, hardly showing any brashness in his manner or talk.
For reasons right and wrong, he has been at the centre of political events for almost a decade. That includes his year-long gamble with his breakaway outfit called the KJP, which has given rise to murmurs that the move deprived BJP of a second attempt at capturing the state assembly in 2013. He has a point to prove, but he's going about it in a straitjacketed way - recalling schemes he had initiated as CM and more commonly, invoking the name of Narendra Modi.
For that matter, the three other major contestants aren't too shrill either. Gita Shivrajkumar JD(S), Manjunath Bhandari (Congress) and Sridhar Kallahalla (AAP) are all first-timers. All by and large, are shunning personal attacks or dog-whistle politics.
For over a decade, the district has seen electoral battles between two families -- one of Yeddyurappa and the other of the late S Bangarappa. Bangarappa, always a big crowd-puller, had been in the fray from 1996 to 2009. If the last election saw Yeddyurappa's son BY Raghavendra pitted against Bangarappa, the present has Yeddyurappa facing Bangarappa's daughter Gita. With Gita's husband and matinee idol Shivraj Kumar too joining in the campaign, the charisma of the legendary Rajkumar family could be counted in too. Gita says, "Wherever I go, I see people recalling my father's good work. I tell them that I'm here to carry on those tasks."
Congress candidate Manjunath Bhandari, who has been engaged in party politics primarily, wants to bank on the programmes implemented by the UPA and Siddaramaiah. "If the Ahinda (acronym for minorities, backward classes and dalits) community decides to vote for the Congress, nobody can stop my victory." His optimism also rests on the fact that "Yeddyurappa seeking votes in the name of Modi".
Social activist and architect Sridhar Kallahalla, who is contesting on an AAP ticket, has a different view of the Modi factor. "If there was such a wave here, the BJP might have fielded any other candidate. Why did they pick Yeddyurappa?" With support from farmers' organizations, including that of senior leader Kadidal Shamanna, Sridhar hopes to convince people of the need for change.
Not that the district has no burning issues. The growing apprehension of a ban on cultivation of areca worries farmers. About 6 lakh voters and their dependents will be directly affected by such a decision, according to an estimate. In this predominantly-agrarian district, cash crops like ginger and rubber are prize attractions. Areca was doing well at Rs 25,000 per quintal last week. Another big concern is of the long-standing threat of eviction looming on owners of bagar hukum land.
Party observers see caste as a factor but they aren't pulling out their notebooks and sharpening their pencils. They believe there is hope for all contenders in this district which has a fair share of caste and community groups - the backward classes, Lingayats, Idigas, Muslims, Vokaligas, Kurubas and scheduled castes. No party, thus, can take a dim view of the other's vote bank claims. If indeed, one of the other two major parties lands with a bonus, Yeddyurappa's confidence could be shaken.