BELGAUM: First things first. Chikkodi had created a record for electing a single candidate consecutively for seven terms, and he contested on a Congress ticket in all the elections.
B Shankaranand was the invincible MP, from 1957 to 1996, when his dream run ended. Ratnamala Savanur of the JD(S) virtually ended his political career that year.
Shankaranand also served as a union minister for 29 years.
His defeat also meant that the Congress’ stranglehold on the seat too ended.
Interestingly, JD(S) which ended Congress’ juggernaut in the 1996 polls, isn’t fielding any candidate this time and this may help the Congress.
This is part of JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda’s strategy to teach Minister for Horticulture and Prisons Umesh Katti, a lesson.
Umesh is the elder brother of BJP candidate Ramesh Katti, who deserted JD(S) to join the BJP as part of ‘operation lotus.’ Sugar industries form the main plot of the political story in this region. People are virtually in the stranglehold of a few families which run the sugar industries and they form the sugar lobby.
The Kattis are the dominant players as far as sugar industries are concerned, and with they controlling the levers of the sugar industries sector, it may be said that Ramesh Katti has an edge over other candidates. BJP is much ahead of Congress in campaigning too. While Yeddyurappa visited all taluk headquarters, L K Advani also paid a visit to the region.
In the 2004 elections, Ramesh Jigajinagi, contesting on a BJP ticket, had won the constituency. Having represented Chikkodi thrice in the Lok Sabha, he has now moved to the Bijapur Reserved Constituency, with Chikkodi being made a General constituency (it was earlier reserved for SC candidates).
Though Shankaranand had a long and unbroken tenure as MP of the constituency, he did nothing for its development.
People of Chikkodi used to get water only once in 15 days and several villages coming under the constituency were hardly getting water during summer. Jigajinagi who defeated Shankaranand in 1998, improved the condition of drinking water supply, and presently the constituency gets water once in three days. Yet, the problems in the constituency are not over.
Several villages in the constituency have no roads and most of the youth are migrating to neighbouring states for employment.
Ramesh Kat t i faces Prakash Hukkeri of the Congress in this election. Both of them belong to the majority Lingayat community and are known masters of electoral strategy. Besides sugar factories, the Kattis control cooperative institutions too.
They also have the support of Prabhakar Kore, another strong leader in the region.
However, Hukkeri, cannot be taken lightly. He has served as a minister in the past and knows the pulse of the people well. Of the eight Assembly constituencies under the Chikkodi Lok Sabha seat, four are with the Congress and four with the BJP.
The constituency has a sizeable chunk of voters belonging to SC/ST communities as also Muslims.
Besides eyeing the votes belonging to these two sections of society, Congress is also focusing on garnering the votes of the majority community, Lingayats, besides those of the Kurubas. V L Patil, a strong Kuruba leader of this area, is supporting the Congress, which is good news for the party.
Ramesh Katti says that the people know about his family’s commitment to development and that since they are yearning for a change, they would vote for him. Hukkeri is no less confident of his chances. He says that the people, having witnessed the ‘rule’ of the Katti family, would vote for the Congress.
It is a tough task indeed, to predict the winner.
