Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Many from Gulbarga for berth in new Ministry

T.V. Sivanandan

Janata Dal (S) and BJP facing difficulties in naming candidates

GULBARGA: The Janata Dal (S) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are finding it difficult to select candidates for the new Ministry from Gulbarga district.

The Janata Dal (S), which ignored the aspirations of the district at the time of the formation of the N. Dharam Singh Government, in which it was a coalition partner, has the responsibility of undoing the damage this time.

Similarly, the BJP, which is steadily growing in the district, cannot afford to ignore the district's claims. The Janata Dal (S) and the BJP besides giving adequate representation would have to allot important portfolios to the legislators from the district, if they have to counter the influence of the Congress, which is making a comeback in the district.

Incidentally, when the Congress was in power, Gulbarga enjoyed special treatment with the allotment of important portfolios and on two occasions, it had the opportunity of sending Chief Ministers in the form of the late Veerandra Patil and Mr. Dharam Singh.

If the zilla and taluk panchayat elections are to be taken as an indicator of the popularity of the political parties, the Congress, which won only three of the 13 seats in the 2004 Assembly elections in the district, is definitely on a comeback trail emerging as the largest party in the zilla panchayat, besides capturing a majority of the taluk panchayat seats. In the gram panchayat elections also, the Congress garnered a majority of the seats.

In the 2004 Assembly elections, the Janata Dal (S) won five seats, the BJP and Congress won three each and the remaining were shared by a Janata Dal (S) rebel candidate Basavantraddy Mudnal from Yadgir and an independent candidate Raju Gowda from Surpur.

The strength of the Janata Dal (S) was reduced to three after it expelled Vaijnath Patil and B.R. Patil. Now, Dr. Basavantraddy Mudnal and Mr. Raju Gowda are associate members of the Janata Dal (S).

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