Veteran Deshpande fights to save face in Haliyal

In Haliyal Assembly constituency of Uttara Kannada district, parties don’t matter. It is the charisma and individual appeal of candidates which count more.

This constituency is all set to witness a battle between six-time MLA and former minister R V Deshpande and sitting JD(S) MLA Sunil Hegde.

Bordering Khanapur of Belgaum district, this taluk is rich in natural resources. But surrounded by thick forests, Haliyal constituency has a plethora of problems.

Uttara Kannada district generates a major chunk of power to feed the rest of the state, but several villages have remained in the dark for many years. For them, electricity is a luxury. Except one paper mill - The West Coast Paper Mill in Dandeli - many industries had shut down when Deshpande was minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries. This believed to be one of the reasons for Deshpande’s defeat in the 2008 Assembly polls.

Development is still a mirage for the people here. While the living condition is somewhat better in Dandeli and Haliyal towns, it is worse in Joida. With Deshpande deciding to go rural, every literate voter is asking what he can do in the next five years when he could achieve nothing in the last 30 years.

Deshpande won the Assembly elections in 1983, 1985, 1989 and 1994 as Janata Party candidate. He joined Congress and won the 1999 and 2004 elections.

Of the total 1,57,171 voters, the strong 60,000 Maratha votes are decisive. Next are the Muslims with 35,000 votes, 10,000 Christians, around 10,000 Lingayats and 5,000 to 7,000 backward classes and around 5,000 SC/ST voters. All the candidates are eyeing the Maratha and the Muslim votes.

Deshpande and Sunil Hegde hail from Haliyal and belong to the Gowda Saraswat Brahmin community. Interestingly, their community voters are hardly found in this constituency. In the past, a few Maratha candidates contested eyeing their community votes, but had failed badly.

Rural voters hold the key here than urban voters. According to an estimate, there are around one lakh votes in rural areas. Hegde enjoys good support in the villages of Joida, Haliyal and Dandeli after he launched a 10-day barefoot ‘padayatra’ to bring water from Kali river to Dandeli and Haliyal and also for a rehabilitation package for the families displaced by the project.

A Congress leader told Express that Deshpande is facing problems within the party. Congress MLC Gotnekar, who is said to be a confidant of former MP and Rajasthan Governor Margaret Alva, is busy with a family function and not canvassing for Deshpande. It is an open secret that Deshpande and Alva are known political rivals.

Alva, who has planned to field her son in the next Parliament election, has managed to get tickets for most of her followers in the district. “The election scenario is changing every day. Now, it is 50:50 for Deshpande and Hegde”, said Suresh, a book stall owner.

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