BELAGAVI
While Congress wrestled back power in Karnataka by winning 136 seats to form the government for the next five years, the party has also taken control of Belagavi district by winning 11 of the 18 seats, leaving the BJP with a reduced strength of the remaining seven seats.
It was a reversal in performance for both parties as compared to the outgoing Karnataka Assembly, when the BJP had 13 MLAs and the Congress had just 5 MLAs.
People of Belagavi gave a clear mandate to Congress by rejecting the BJP for various reasons, including allegations of corruption.
The ‘40% commission BJP government’ was, in fact, initiated in Belagavi district after a contractor had committed suicide last year by blaming a BJP minister for demanding the commission.
For BJP, this election had become a prestigious affair as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Maharashtra Dy CM Devendra Phadanvis, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and other ministers and legislators from Goa had campaigned for BJP candidates in and around Belagavi district.
The 11 winning Congress candidates were Mahendra Tammannavar (Kudachi), Laxman Savadi (Athani), Raju Kage (Kagawad), Ashok Pattan (Ramadurg), Ganesh Hukkeri (Sadalga - Chikkodi), Babasaheb D Patil (Kittur), Vishwas Vaidya (Soundatti), Satish Jarkiholi (Yamakanamardi), Asif Raju Sait (Belgaum North), Laxmi Hebbalkar (Belgaum Rural) and Mahantesh Koujalagi (Bailhongal).
The seven winning BJP candidates were Shashikala Jolle (Nippani), Duryodhana Aihole (Raibag), Nikhil Katti (Hukkeri), Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Vithalarao Halgekar (Khanapur), Abhay Patil (Belgaum South) and Bhalachandra Jarkiholi (Arabhavi).
While Congress and BJP were engaged in a fierce battle, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) which fielded five candidates in the district has once again lost miserably.
Except for Ramakant Konduskar who gave a tough fight to sitting MLA Abhay Patil of the BJP from South Belagavi, other candidates secured meagre votes. This has given a big jolt to the cause of MES of merger of Belagavi and border areas in Maharashtra.
Meanwhile, Congress party’s huge gain in the assembly elections is going to give a major boost to the grand old party in the 2024 Parliamentary elections in Belagavi and in Karnataka.
At present both the Members of Parliament from Belagavi district and a Rajya Sabha MP belong to the BJP.
