BIDAR: A tough contest is on the cards in Bidar in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, with an experienced Bhagawant Khuba (57) facing debutant Sagar Khandre (26). Khuba, who is also Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, is a two-time MP from Bidar. He defeated former chief minister and Congress strongman, the late Dharam Singh, in 2014 and current minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet, Eshwar Khandre, in the 2019 polls by a huge margin.
What could upset the apple cart of Khuba is not just the stiff competition from the Congress, but also the threat he faces from those within his own party. It is well known that former minister Prabhu Chauhan, who is an MLA from Aurad, was against the BJP fielding Khuba. Also, MLA from Basavakalyan, Sharanu Salgar, has openly quarreled several times with Khuba.
Chauhan is not participating in the election campaigns and has been in Mumbai for the last two months owing to ill health. Salgar, too, is not campaigning, say BJP insiders. Another factor that could affect Khuba’s victory is the Marathas decision to field a member of their community as an independent from Bidar. The community, which has always supported the BJP, has fielded Dr Dinkar More from Bidar. The Maratha community, with 1.45 lakh voters, is spread across Aurad, Bhalki, Basavakalyan, and Aland Assembly segments. The Marathas feel that both the BJP and the Congress have neglected the community.
“The Modi wave is still strong in Bidar. If Khuba wins the elections, it will solely be because of this,” opines a political expert. Meanwhile, the sailing is not smooth, even for Sagar Khandre, the youngest candidate fighting the polls this year in Karnataka. Though he has helped his father, Eshwar Khandre, in previous elections, this is the first time that Sagar has entered the fray.
The Khandre family has been in electoral politics for many decades. Sagar’s grandfather, Bhimanna Khandre, was a former minister. Sagar’s father, Eshwar Khandre, is a former KPCC working president, secretary general of Akhila Bharath Veerashaiva Mahasabha, and currently the minister for forest and ecology in the Siddaramaiah government. Though Minister Rahim Khan is actively canvassing for Sagar, former minister Rajashekhar Patil Humnabad, who was also an aspirant from Bidar, is not actively participating in the campaign.
Meanwhile, Muslims, with 3.7 lakh voters, had demanded the Congress field a candidate belonging to the community. However, with the Congress fielding a Veerashaiva-Lingayat, it is to be seen how the Muslim population will vote.
The constituency, which was reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes till 2009, had elected the late Ramachandra Veerappa seven times (two times on a Congress ticket and five times from the BJP), Narasingh Rao Suryavanshi (Congress) four times, and Shankar Dev (Congress) three times. After delimitation in 2009, Dharam Singh won in 2009 and Khuba in 2014 and 2019.
Both Sagar and Khuba hail from the Veerashiva-Lingayat community. There are close to 3 lakh voters belonging to the community in Bidar. The population of SC (Right) is about 2.7 lakh, and SC (Left) is 1.1 lakh. The voter strength of ST Koli and Kabbaliga is about 1.6 lakh
Bidar Lok Sabha constituency comprises Basavakalyan, Humnabad, Bidar-South, Bidar, Bhalki, and Aurad Assembly constituencies in Bidar district and Chincholi and Aland in Kalaburagi district. While the BJP won in five constituencies in the 2023 Assembly elections, the remaining three segments were won by the Congress candidates.