BELAGAVI: After holding discussions with leaders of various communities on Tuesday, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa expressed confidence that the party’s Belagavi Lok Sabha candidate Mangala Angadi would win the seat by more than 3 lakh votes. Yediyurappa and other party leaders accompanied her for filing nomination papers.
He said the leaders had expressed their full support to Mangala Angadi, wife of late Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi. “Leaders of different communities, including weavers, Kurubas and Maratha Samaj said they had a great deal of respect for the Angadi family, and would support the candidate,’’ he said. Yediyurappa said he would be back in Belagavi on April 7 to take part in the election campaign. The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Suresh Angadi last year, of Covid-19 complications.
Asked whether the Lingayat community would continue to support his party, Yediyurappa said the community had always rallied behind the party and the party too had always been supportive of the community. He said he was confident the Lingayats would support Angadi in the coming election.
Earlier, the Chief Minister recalled the statements of some leaders of the opposition that they would not contest the Belagavi LS bypoll if a member of Suresh Angadi’s family contested the polls, and said he would request all the people to vote for her.
Addressing a BJP convention in Belagavi later, Yediyurappa praised Suresh Angadi for bringing several major railway projects to the state and said he had never expected him to depart so soon.
The Belagavi bypoll promises to be an interesting contest, with the Congress fielding MLA Satish Jarkiholi.