Marathi group calls for BJP boycott after MLA not fielded from Belagavi

The Marathi community has around 75,000 votes in Belagavi North and 100,000 in Belagavi South constituency, according to local leaders.

Belagavi: A group of Marathi-speaking people in Belagavi have asked their community members to boycott the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the May 10 assembly elections after the ruling party denied ticket to a Marathi MLA. Belagavi North MLA Anil Benake was replaced by Ravi Patil, a Lingayat leader, in the constituency, which angered his supporters.

Belagavi North MLA Anil Benake was replaced by Ravi Patil, a Lingayat leader, in the constituency, which angered his supporters. (ANI)

The Marathi community has around 75,000 votes in Belagavi North and 100,000 in Belagavi South constituency, according to local leaders. The Belagavi North constituency has about 225,000 voters, including 40,000 Muslims and around 25,000 Lingayats.

In previous elections, most of the Marathis voted for the candidates whom the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) supported, and later they turned toward the BJP and Congress after the interstate border dispute was taken to court.

“Most of the Marathis supported the BJP in Belagavi North as it has fielded a candidate from our linguistic group. Now we have appealed to Marathis to boycott the BJP and vote according to their wishes,” said Prashant Jadhav, an office-bearer of Ekdant Yuvak Mandal.

Benake defeated Congress candidate Feroz Saith in the 2018 polls by a margin of about 17,000 votes after losing to him in 2013.

Anil Benake said he didn’t know the reason for denial of ticket to him, adding that he was satisfied with his work in the constituency. “The call to boycott the BJP by my community members was not done on my instructions; it was a reaction from them. Despite doing good work, I don’t know why I was denied a ticket. Not considering me is an injustice to my community. Not just Marathis but people from other language groups voted for me,” he said.

Belagavi city Congress president Asif (Raju) Saith welcomed the move of Marathis to boycott the BJP. “Not only Marathis but also others will reject BJP for its anti-people stand,” Saith said.

Benake, according to sources in the BJP, has not been considered for a ticket as his work was not satisfactory and he was not available to public. “The party’s internal report has stated that the BJP would loose the constituency if he (Benake) was fielded again,” a BJP leader, who was a member of the committee that prepared internal report, said on condition of anonymity.

The state and central government intelligence reports were also not favourable to Benake, the leader said.