BELAGAVI: For all his tall claims and bravado, Ramesh Jarkiholi, who had prevailed upon the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) top brass to give tickets to his staunch followers in five assembly constituencies in Belagavi district, has been left red-faced as they all lost.
Jarkiholi had managed to get tickets to his followers Mahesh Kumatalli in Athani, Nagesh Manolkar in Belagavi Rural, Jagadish Metgud in Bailhongal, Basavaraj Hundri in Yamakanmardi, and Chikka Revanna in Ramdurg. But all of them bit the dust.
Ramesh’s move had irked the senior BJP leader Laxman Savadi so much that he quit the saffron party and joined the Congress. Though BJP workers were disappointed at the importance given to Ramesh, they toed the party line.
Ramesh, who had claimed that he would ensure the victory of the saffron party in 16 out of 18 seats in the district, failed completely in his mission.
A six-time MLA, Ramesh’s own victory in Gokak was not a cakewalk this time. In the first few rounds, he was trailing behind the Congress candidate Mahantesh Kadadi. However, he then picked pace in the following rounds and finally won by a margin of 25,412 votes. According to political analysts, though Ramesh won in Gokak, his political strategy had gone haywire.
Ramesh was keen on defeating his political rivals Laxman Savadi and Laxmi Hebbar, but both of them won with convincing margins.
Ramesh played a vital role in bringing BJP to power in 2020 through ‘Operation Lotus’ when 17 MLAs belonging to the Grand Old Party and JDS had defected to the saffron party.