Ramesh plotted BJP defeat in Belagavi?

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: Did the BJP fall into the khedda(ditch) dug by former minister and Gokak MLA, Ramesh Jarkiholi in Belagavi drawing a blank in a constituency hitherto considered a saffron bastion?

The answer seems to be yes going by the crafty manner in which Ramesh got his brother, Lakhan Jarkiholi, an Independent candidate, elected to the Legislative Council at the cost of the BJP’s official candidate and Chief Whip, Mahantesh Kavatagimath. This has rise to suspicion that the defeat of Kavatagimath was a plot reportedly hatched by the Gokak Sahukar’ as Ramesh is known in the district.

Lakhan surprised everyone when he entered the fray as an independent candidate with local BJP leaders bringing this to the notice of state leaders and demanding that he withdraw his nomination as it would affect the prospects of Kavatagimath. When BJP leaders spoke to Ramesh about Lakhan’s nomination, the former minister said that it had been done intentionally to defeat Channaraj Hattiholi, the Congress candidate and brother of Belagavi Rural MLA, Lakshmi Hebbalkar. Ramesh reportedly convinced BJP leaders before the polls that he would convince local voters to give their first preferencel vote to Kavatagimath and the second preference vote to Lakhan. Believing his words, BJP leaders depended upon him assuming that voters of local bodies would vote for Kavatagimath.

In the meantime, former minister and Yamakanamaradi MLA Satish Jarkiholi and Lakshmi Hebbalkar, with the support of KPCC Working President, D.K.Shivakumar, managed to pull off a dramatic victory for the Congress candidate in the first round itself. During the counting of second preferential votes, luck smiled on Lakhan as the local body voters voted for him instead of Kavatagimath.

Till the last round of counting, the BJP candidate was confident of winning the election, unaware of the ‘khedda’ dug by Ramesh. Recently, the Gokak MLA had said that he would not have been allowed to enter the BJP without the support of Delhi leaders and RSS pramukhs. Ramesh had been waiting for his re-entry into the Council of Ministers with the Cabinet expansion waiting to happen in the next few days. But BJP leaders were against his induction into the Cabinet because of his alleged involvement in a sex scandal due to which he was forced to quit the ministry.

So the Legislative Council election came as a blessing for Ramesh to prove his control over Belagavi district and how he could change the poll results. It however remains to be seen if the BJP will still take him into the Cabinet or drop him like a hot potato.