Jarkiholis gear up for a tough battle in rural Belagavi
Speaking at a meeting of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) community in Tarihal village on Thursday, Satish said: “It is his responsibility that the party retains the seat and Hebbaklar returns as the legislator.”
Days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi said he would pay ₹6,000 per vote to ensure the defeat of Lakshmi Hebbalkar in the upcoming Karnataka assembly polls, his brother and Congress MLA Satish Jarkiholi has said he would ensure that Congress retains the Belagavi seat.
Speaking at a meeting of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) community in Tarihal village on Thursday, Satish said: “It is his responsibility that the party retains the seat and Hebbaklar returns as the legislator.”
On January 22, former Karnataka minister Ramesh stirred a political controversy after he said he would “give ₹6,000 to each voter” before the state assembly elections.
Jarkiholi was speaking at a rally organised by his supporters in Sulebavi village in Belagavi Rural constituency on Friday. The remark came during his attack on Congress MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who represents the area.
Ramesh, who defected to BJP from Congress in 2018, was an ally of Hebbalkar.
However, they had a fallout after Hebbalkar joined hands with Karnataka Congress Pradesh Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar in a local cooperative body election.
Jarkiholi family, which had three MLAs in the past, has dominated politics in Belagavi.
However, the family suffered a setback in 2018 when a candidate backed by Hebbalkar won the presidential election of Belagavi Taluk Cooperative Credit Bank against the candidates supported by the Jarkiholi family. The suspected involvement of DK Shivakumar led to Ramesh pulling down JD(S)-Congress coalition government and establishing the BJP government.
People close to Satish said he maintained his distance from Hebbalkar in the past. However, ahead of the election, he had decided to support Hebblakar, said party officials.
“Satish’s support has given me a new boost and reduced my burden. My victory is confirmed with his entry into my election,” said Hebbalkar, responding to the statement.
However, BJP Belagavi rural district president, Sanjay Patil, who represented the Belagavi Rural constituency twice, charged Lakshmi over her gifts to voters.
“She did no developmental works for which is gifting the voters. If she did the people’s work, she could not woo the voters,” he said, adding that Hebbalkar had distributed gift boxes containing steel plates, glasses, spoons etc, on her birthday in January.
Meanwhile, Ramesh, who was given the election charge of the 18 constituencies in the district, has announced her ‘Mission Dozen’ and has set a target of winning at least 12 seats, including Hebbalkar’s.
In the previous elections, Hebbalkar won the polls by about a 50,000 margin against Patil of the BJP.
Reacting to Satish’s entry to this highly anticipated political battle, Patil said: “BJP lost the election over internal issues. Now everything is settled. We don’t bother anyone, including Satish. We will win the election even if Siddaramaiah contests. Our victory is sure, we get back the constituency.”