KALABURAGI: It not going to be an easy election for Priyank Kharge, son of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is seeking to contest from Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi district.
Ever since the first polls in 1957, Chittapur has elected Congress representatives to the State Assembly, adding up to 10 times. Among those elected was Baburao Chinchansoor of Congress, who was elected thrice from the constituency prior to the 2008 delimitation.
After the boundaries were redefined, Mallikarjun Kharge who won eight times from Gurmitkal shifted his constituency to Chittapur in 2008.Over the next six years, this constituency was caught in a minor tug-of-war, which ended in a Congress win. In the 2008 elections, Mallikarjun defeated Valmiki Kamalu Naik of BJP by a margin of 17,442 votes while Naik defeated Priyank in the 2009 by-elections by a margin of 1,606 votes. But, in the 2013 polls, Priyank defeated Valmiki Kamalu Naik by 31,191 votes and went on to become the Minister for Tourism and IT & BT two years ago.
After 2008, Congress also benefitted from defections of senior JD (S) leaders from Chittapur -- Vishwanath Patil Hebbal, Lingareddy Bhasareddy, Srinivas Sagar and Ravindra Sajjanashetty. The party thus gained support from leaders of Lingayat and Reddy communities.However, the situation has now changed. The JD(S) leaders who had joined Congress in 2008 have now deserted the party to join the BJP. Among them are Vishwanath and Lingareddy.
Lingareddy tells The New Indian Express that Chittapur MLA Priyank does not respect senior leaders. He says, casteism has become prevalent in the constituency over the last three years and therefore people are changing loyalty to the BJP. BJP leader Somashekhar Patil, who was earlier with Congress, says Priyank had assured senior leader Ravindra Sajjanashetty the post of a chairman on a state-level board. “But, but he did not act on his promise. This shows how Priyank neglects the elders,” he adds.
Voters like the villagers of Tarkaspet of Chittapur taluk are also unhappy. Residents of this village have announced that they will boycott the polls because the government has not upgraded their village as a gram panchayat headquarters.
But Priyank is confident of his victory. According to him, a lot has been done to improve education and infrastructure in Chittapur. “As much as `30 crore has been sanctioned to establish a ‘Nagavi Education Hub’ on 282 acres. The place will have a residential school and four hostels among other amenities. Also, Oriental Cement Industry has started functioning in Mogala village and it employs 1,198 people. I know that the people here will bless me,” he says.
Faces of the parties
There is a buzz in the political circles that senior leader and Kalaburagi MP Mallikarjun Kharge might contest from Chittapur and Priyank Kharge might be accommodated from Kalaburagi Rural constituency.
BJP might clear the name of former MLA Valmiki Kamalu Naik or sitting zilla panchayat member Aravind Chauhan within a day or two.
JD(S) has announced that it will give Chittapur to BSP. But BSP is yet to announce its candidate.