‘Choice of Angadi’s wife is not dynastic politics’

In choosing Mangala Angadi as the candidate for the Belagavi Lok Sabha seat byelection, the BJP is not resorting to dynastic politics, but it is a way of showing respect to the leader who worked hard for the State and died while on duty, said Arun Singh, BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka.

In a brief interview with The Hindu, he spoke of the choice of Ms. Mangala Angadi, wife of the former Union Minister late Suresh Angadi, as the candidate. “It should be seen as a measure of respect to the leader who died working for the people,” he said. “The winnability factor is also there. Being a byelection, the factors at play here are very different,” he said.

He said the party was aware of the alleged rift between RDPR Minister K.S. Eshwarappa and Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa. “We are clear on what to do, but as of now our focus is on the bypolls. We will tackle administrative issues later,” he said.

He said the BJP would easily win the three bypolls in Karnataka. “In Belagavi, there is no impediment for us at all. We will win only by campaigning about the good work done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Suresh Angadi,” he said. He said the weaknesses of the Congress candidate would also help the BJP.

According to him, the BJP’s lead would overshoot the lead of 3.91 lakh votes obtained by Suresh Angadi in 2019. “We are looking at the consolidation of votes. Among major players, only BJP has a Lingayat candidate. If the votes of Lingayats and Marathas are added up, we could easily beat the 2019 vote lead,” he said.