VIJAYAPURA: Housing Minister V Somanna openly expressing disappointment while campaigning for the party candidate bears testimony to the pitiable condition of the roads in the rural parts of Sindagi Assembly constituency. Not just roads, the constituency even lacks basic amenities like proper drinking water supply, health and transport facilities.
Manjunath Patil, a resident of Balaganur village, pointed out, “The leaders make tall promises while campaigning in the polls, but after the results are out, not even the elected representative bothers to revisit the village and take up development works. It is disappointing that while many constituencies are witnessing development, Sindagi has remained in the same state.”
Apart from this, people from the rural areas continue to migrate in search of better livelihood. “The economically weaker families are forced to move to Goa, Pune and Mumbai due to the lack of employment opportunities in the area. The assurances from the politicians have remained only on paper,” rued Prakash Nayak, a migrant worker who has returned to his hometown to celebrate Deepawali.
Though a couple of irrigation schemes have been announced for the segment, half of the areas in the constituency remain unirrigated, forcing farmers to depend on rain. The Gutti Basavanna lift irrigation project, the Indi and Korawar branch canal are three major irrigation projects in the segment.
“If all the three projects are implemented, around 90 percent of the constituency will get irrigated. These projects will be a gamechanger for the rural belts as the livelihoods of a large number of people in the region is dependent on farming. These projects have remained unattended due to lack of political will. We (farmers) believe that this bypoll will change the fate of farmers,” said Ramangouda Biradar of Kannoli village.
With hardly a day left for public campaigning, all three political parties are making full effort to mobilise support for their respective candidates. The BJP’s Ramesh Bhusanur was elected twice (2008 and 2013) from the constituency. However, he lost the 2018 polls by a wafer-thin margin to M C Managuli. Bhusanur hails from the Lingayat-Ganiga community and is popular among a section of the minority community. He also enjoys good rapport with people of all communities and villagers.
On the other hand, the Congress’ Ashok Managuli will be contesting his first Assembly election in his political career. He hails from Lingayat-Panchamasali community and has looked after the constituency when his father, late M C Managuli, was MLA. Even though the JDS had assured him of a ticket for the bypolls, he sprung a surprise by moving to the Congress. Amidst dissent from the local leaders, he succeeded in getting the party ticket.
Naziya Shakeel Ahmed Angadi of the JDS is the first woman to contest from a major political party in Sindagi. She was given the ticket considering her father-in-law I B Angadi’s association with the Janata Party over five decades. The JDS surprised everyone by fielding Naziya, who was not even an aspirant. JDS leaders H D Deve Gowda, H D Kumaraswamy and Bandeppa Khashempur are campaigning intensively to regain power in Sindagi.