BD NarayankarBengaluru, Aug. 15 -- Hiriyur is heading for its first-ever Assembly by-election, and the contest already has the makings of a political thriller.
On one side is the Congress, hoping that the memory of late MLA and former Minister D Sudhakar will do what election arithmetic sometimes cannot. On the other is the BJP-JDS combine, armed with a more prosaic weapon - numbers.
Sudhakar died on May 10, leaving the Hiriyur seat vacant. The by-election has to be held within six months, putting November 10 as the deadline for electing his successor. But this is not merely about filling a vacant chair.
With the 2028 Assembly election barely two years away, Hiriyur could become an early rehearsal for the larger Karnataka battle. The 202...