Kalaburgi Reserve constituency evokes keen interest among political onlookers

Kalaburgi Reserve constituency evokes keen interest among political onlookers

Gulbarga or more well known as Kalaburagi locally is the divisional headquarters of Hyderabad Karnataka region.A division formerly part of the Nizam's kingdom at last became part of the state only in 1971 and that too after a prolonged relentless movement.

If the state of Karnataka came into being on 1 November 1956 for all those residing in the erstwhile Hyderabad Karnataka areas celebrate their unification day taking into consideration the 1971 calendar as well.

Well enough water has flown into Bheema,Bennithora and other rivers in the district since then apart from the district being split to carve the new Yadagiri district.

Kalaburagi as it has been officially renamed has by and large remained a strong Congress bastion ever since it came into being after Independence.

Right from the first ever general elections during 1951 and the subsequent polls held in 1957,1962,1967 and 1971 the constituency then under the Hyderabad state preferred to choose only the Indian National Congress party candidates in a row.

A significant and worth mentioning point here is that Swami Ramananda Teertha,a towering religious personality happened to be the first Lok Sabha Member during the 1951 polls.

The situation was no better even after the region became part of Karnataka in 1971 as by and large it was only the INC candidates who won from this constituency.

It was in 1996 and for the first time after the constituency came into being Qamar ul Islam emerged victorious on a Janata Dal ticket.

A similar feat was repeated during 1998 when Basavaraj Patil,Sedam won from there as a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

But for these two exceptions the backward district notoriously known for its scorching heat and bumper crop of Tur dal has remained a Congress pocket.

The hitherto unknown constituency hit the national headlines during 1980 when the sitting MP Dharamsingh vacated the seat to enable the defeated Kerala Congress leader CM Stephen to have a political rebirth from here.

In a way the voters of this constituency also boast of a dubious distinction of electing a person who either knew the topography nor understood the language of the local people.

He became the Union Communications Minister in Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's cabinet and as a token of gratitude to his voters he sanctioned the Low Power Transmitter for beaming Doordarshan TV channel programs on community TV sets.

When the whole state never even knew what TV sets meant people of the backward district earned the distinction of watching them close to their doorsteps!

Now the same Kalaburagi Lok Sabha constituency has become a reserve constituency while the neighboring Bidar Lok Sabha constituency has become a general one stripping it from the reserve category.

Kalaburagi is more in the news these days as Mallikarjun Kharge,the sitting MP for the last two terms and leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha will be again back into the fray for the third time as well.

He is one of the senior most Congress leaders of the state beginning his career under the stewardship of the late D Devaraj Urs, described as the champion of backward class movement in the state during the early eighties along with M Veerappa Moily.

Mallikarjun Kharge also has the unique distinction of getting elected to the state Assembly continuously for a record number of nine times from Gurmitkal and Chitapur constituencies.

A former state and central minister,he has handled many crucial portfolios and is a quite popular leader of the district just coming close to the position of becoming a chief minister and missing it several times.

Many Dalit leaders accuse him of not being assertive as he had ample opportunities of becoming the first dalit chief minister but compromised during 2013 only to make his son a minister! For being in the state and national politics he also has many contributions to make for the perennially drought district.

He is attributed for the setting up of the Central University,500 bed ESI Hospital and ESI Medical college apart from launching many educational institutions.

Even the Buddha Vihar he has set up has become a sought after tourist destination in the whole region.

Last time during the 2014 Parliamentary elections he defeated Revunaik Belamagi of the Bharatiya Janata Party by a huge margin of 74,733 votes.

He had defeated the same candidate even in the previous elections.But now Revunaik Belamagi has switched over to the Janata Dal Secular after he was rejected a party ticket to contest the state Assembly elections during 2018.

In that way he has no rival worth mentioning of his political caliber to contest again him even in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.But there is no dearth of contenders in the Bharatiya Janata Party to take him head on.Subash Rathod,state convenor of the Bheti Padao scheme is said to have been okayed for the party's candidature.He's a two times Zilla Parishat member and once vice president of the ZP.

However the constituency has a mixed combination of Lingayats,SC/STs and Muslims and the role of Kabbaligas' is said to be crucial this time.

If at all the Janata Dal Secular party abstains from contesting and supports Kharge's candidature the victory path will be much easier as the Dalit and Muslim voters back him solidly,claim Congressmen.

A retired government department head sums up all:Mallikarjun Kharge is a shrewd leader having no powerful rivals against him.He's been dubbed of almost losing elections every time but has triumphed as he's mastered the craft of sensing the pulse of the people on the ground.

So now the moot question is as to who will bell the cat on behalf of the BJP?In fact there are no political contemporaries to match the image of Kharge which by itself happens to be his biggest asset.But whether that factor alone will be enough for him to sail through safely once again for the third consecutive time needs to be seen?

Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti