The victory of Congress candidate HP Manjunath in the bypoll in the Hunsur Assembly constituency emerged as the victory of ex-chief minister Siddaramaiah.
However, this lone victory for the Congress again proved that Siddaramaiah’s influence is limited to the Mysuru district among the 15 segments that participated in the by-elections.
Despite the humiliating defeat in Siddaramaiah's traditional Chamundeshwari segment in 2018 against his once confidant GT Devegowda of the JD(S). Siddaramaiah keeps touring only Mysuru district, during frequent visits, even though he is an MLA of Badami, in far off Bagalkot district.
Political secretary to CM
Manjunath, who was also elected as MLA in 2008 and 2013, was defeated in 2018, against AH Vishwanath, who was then in the JD(S). While Vishwanath crossed over to the BJP, Manjunath faced him again, as a Congress candidate and defeated him. Manjunath has been a staunch follower of Siddaramaiah, since the latter joined the Congress. Manjunath was made Political Secretary to the CM when Siddaramaiah was the CM. However, Manjunath’s father HN Prem Kumar was with the Congress for a long time. He was a Congress candidate in 1983.
This time as usual, Siddaramaiah put his focus on Mysuru. Since only Hunsur was going to the polls in the district, he naturally put his focus there. He toured almost every corner of the segment multiple times. He met leaders who supported the Congress and also those who opposed the party. He made a truce with dissatisfied leaders. There was a good chance that the Kuruba community would vote for Vishwanath as both he and Siddaramaiah belong to the community. Siddaramaiah convinced the community to vote against the BJP. Even the re-entry into the BJP of another prominent Kuruba leader, CH Vijayashankar, did not help Vishwanath.
As soon as Siddaramaiah sensed that Vishwanath was gaining the upper hand, he entered into an understanding with the JD(S) leaders in the community with the support of a section of the Vokkaligas. While ex-CM HD Kumaraswamy did not want victory for Vishwanath, who ditched the JD(S), Chamundeshwari MLA GT Devegowda, who had plans to install his son GD Harish Gowda in the Hunsur segment, also did not want Vishwanath to win.
Devegowda was first elected as MLA from Hunsur in 1998. Later, he was elected again in 2004 and unsuccessfully contested in 2008. His native village Gungral Chatra, under Chamundeshwari constituency, is on the border with Hunsur. He shifted to Chamundeshwari only in 2013.