BELAGAVI: With chances of BJP retaining the Belagavi Lok Sabha seat getting brighter given the way it has emerged as a strong force in the region, the Congress is faced with the task of finding a potential candidate to contest the bypoll. Even as the committee of top Congress leaders set up to select a suitable candidate for the bypoll has shortlisted three names, it has come to light that a section of the party has suggested the name of Ashok Pujari, a popular politician from Gokak.
What may work in Pujari’s favour is not just his popularity, but also his Lingayat tag as the community has a large number of voters in the Belagavi parliamentary constituency. Pujari, who is now with the JDS, lost the last two Assembly elections from Gokak.
As a BJP leader, he was defeated by Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was with Congress then. In the bypoll that followed for the same seat after Jarkiholi switched over to BJP, Pujari, who had joined JDS by then, lost again. Pujari had crossed over to JDS prior to the bypoll refusing to accept a chairman’s post of a local body offered by the BJP.
The Congress is yet to offer him a ticket, but many in the party indicated that they are ready to rally behind him if he is fielded. Pujari told TNIE that he is a loyal leader of JDS and his main aim is to change the corrupt and dominant political system that has existed in Gokak for a long time. “I always want to fight for a change in the system in Gokak.
Till I stay in politics, I will continue to bring in changes in Gokak,’’ he said. But, he said, he will give a serious thought to any offer coming from the Congress. “No one from the party has contacted me yet,” he added. The Congress is still hunting for a candidate as party working president Satish Jarkiholi is unwilling to contest, despite pressure from the party’s top leadership. Though the party has several young probables, a section of leaders is keen to field a “winnable” candidate against the formidable BJP, sources said.