HUBBALLI: The Shiggaon Assembly segment, which once elected the tallest Congress leader S Nijalingappa, came to the limelight the second time only after Basavaraj Bommai became chief minister in mid-2021. Everybody’s eyes are on the constituency ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections as the sitting chief minister is seeking a re-election from here, turning it into a battle of prestige for the saffron party.
Nijalingappa, after being elected from here in 1967, went on to become unified Karnataka’s first chief minister. Congress, too, continued its hold over the constituency, off and on, till 2008. But Bommai, who deserted Janata Dal (United) and joined BJP, turned it into a saffron party bastion. Though Bommai is from Hubballi, he was made to contest from Shiggaon as not indulging in any politics in Dharwad district was a precondition for his joining BJP.
Even before Bommai contested the election here, the ground had been prepared by Rajashekhar Sindhur, who rebelled against the party, won the election as an independent, and rejoined but joined back BJP later. Bommai capitalised on it further and won three elections in a row. This will be his fourth attempt from here and retaining the incumbent chief minister’s seat has become a prestige issue for the saffron party.
The contest here would have been more intense and intriguing if Congress had fielded former minister and Lingayat-Panchamasali leader Vinay Kulkarni, whose community has a large number of voters here. Bommai is a Lingayat, but he comes from the minority Sadar sect. Though Congress tried to pin the constituency on Kulkarni, he backed out, refusing to make it a battle of prestige. Congress is yet to name a candidate from here, but two former MLAs -- Manjunath Kunnur and Sayed Azeempeer Khadri -- are in the race. In case the party decides to field a minority candidate, Khadri gets a chance. If not, then Kunnur, who recently deserted BJP to join Congress, will be fielded. The latter is a two-time MLA from Shiggaon (1994 and 1999) from Congress and a one-time MP (2004) from the Saffron party.
As far as the caste arithmetic is concerned, Lingayats and Muslims are in majority here, apart from a sizable number of Dalit, tribal and backward castes. Because of better social engineering, Bommai has been winning by a decent margin. But in the last two elections, his margin was just around 6 percent. This is what has boosted Congress’ confidence.
But BJP, on the other hand, claims that Bommai will sail through because of development works taken up in the constituency and across the state after he became chief minister. But voters are undecided as Congress is yet to announce its candidate.
Political observers too say that it could be an easy victory for Bommai if Khadri is fielded, and an intense fight if Kunnur becomes the Congress candidate.
A senior BJP leader too admitted that it would have been an interesting fight if Kulkarni had been fielded and predicting a winner would have been difficult. But, he said, Bommai is confident of victory because of his close association with the constituency and his acceptance among all sections of society. BJP is prepared to foil any Congress bid to make the battle a close one, he said.