BADAMI: With certainty growing about Chief Minister Siddaramaiah choosing Badami as the second constituency for the upcoming Assembly polls, there is an upbeat mood among the people here. Often neglected when it comes to development, the people here are seeing the Chief Minister’s decision as a blessing in disguise.
Badami constituency has 143 villages and is known for it’s heritage structures, attracting tourists from across the globe. The Badami segment seems like the safest constituency for Siddaramaiah with highest voters coming form the Kuruba community. Political analysts here say that Siddaramaiah may have had plans about contesting from Badami for quite some time. They say Siddaramaiah had hinted about his candidature from Badami in a recent function. While addressing a gathering here on March 12,
Siddaramaiah had apologised to the people of Badami for not coming here for years together. He had also assured that he will soon be spending more time with the people here.
Rumours about Siddaramaiah choosing Badami as the second constituency were doing the rounds for some time. Analysts say it will all be decided after some groundwork is done, which includes calculating the vote bank depending on the castes on whom Siddaramaiah is banking on. Siddaramaiah has great support in the Kuruba community and they constitute the highest number of voters in Badami, followed by Valmikis, Lingayats and Muslims. Analysts say Congress may want to pocket maximum Kuruba votes which are spread over North Karnataka.
Kuruba leaders say the community is trying hard to re-elect Siddaramaiah. “If not Siddaramaiah, the Kuruba community does not have a mass leader who can be at the top post. Moreover, with Siddaramaiah contesting from North Karnataka, Congress can make a better impact in this region. With recent pre-poll surveys showing a decline in votes for Congress in the Mumbai-Karnataka region, Siddaramaiah wants to make the most out of Kuruba votes in North Karnataka,” a community leader said.
Analysts point out that Badami has around 45,000 Kurubas, followed by 38,000 Lingayats, 36,000 from Scheduled Castes and tribes and about 18,000 Muslim voters. Kerur, Belur, Nandakeshwar, Guledagudda and Badami are the important places from the constituency and for years these areas have been neglected by successive rulers. “Basava Jaya Mruthyunjaya swamiji of Kudalsangam mutt is in favour of a separate Lingayat religion and this may work in favour of Congress,” one analyst said.
When undivided, Vijayapura and Bagalkot districts where known as the deciders when it came to elections in Karnataka. In 1962, S Nijalingappa had contested from Bagalkot and had won the Assembly elections. But in 1991, former chief minister Ramkrishna Hegde had to taste defeat in Bagalkot Lok Sabha elections. This is the first time a sitting chief minister has decided to contest from the constituency.
“If you conduct elections today, Siddaramaiah will win with a higher margin,” said Isthaling Sirsi, a writer and political analyst from Badami. “The people here have waited for development for years and the news about the chief minister contesting from Badami has raised their hopes,” he said.
With the chief minister in focus here, the in-fighting between local leaders in Bagalkot district is now forgotten. Sitting MLA B B Chimmanakatti, district minister R B Thimmapur and Minister H M Revanna are now camping in Badami for Siddaramaiah’s success.
