Karnataka: A farmers’ political collective aspires to take on BJP & JD(S) in Mandya

Mandya: The office of the Sarvodaya Karnataka Party (SKP) may be the least prominent among other political party outposts here, but it definitely looked the busiest.
A couple of days before nominations were to close for candidates for the May 10 Assembly elections, Mandya, the heart of Karnataka’s agrarian belt looked like it was yet to catch the election fever. And yet the SKP office was buzzing with activities like laying out freshly printed posters and loading them onto trucks.
The face that stands out prominently, among the posters that are being loaded onto vans, was that of SKP’s lead candidate Darshan Puttanaiah. Son of the late prominent farmers leader K S Puttanaiah, Darshan is contesting from Melkote constituency in Mandya district. Congress is not fielding a candidate here in order to support Darshan and open the constituency up for a direct contest between the SKP and the JD(S) which is hoping to retain its seat.
SKP is a political offshoot of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, a farmers’ association which claims to have more than 20 lakh registered members. It is contesting in constituencies including Melkote, Mandya, Virajpet, Chitradurga, Belthangady and Chamaraj Nagar where a majority of voters are farmers belonging to the Vokkaliga community.
SKP says that more than 70 percent of its candidates are young and are well-educated. Their focus on issues is mostly restricted to those pertaining to the region and to dissuade voters from leaning towards the BJP.
“We have asked all our members not to vote for BJP as it is an anti-farmer party. We have not taken a political stand against any other political party in constituencies where we are not contesting,” Prasanna N Gowda, state general secretary of SKP told PTI.