Karnataka - Belgaum   

A.B. Patil’s decision upsets Kudachi’s calculations

Ramesh Kudachi

Belgaum: Will the two-time Congress MLA and the first Kannada-speaking candidate who defeated the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) rival in the last two elections from the Belgaum Assembly constituency, Ramesh L. Kudachi, get the ticket this time?

The question gains significance in the light of the former Minister A.B. Patil throwing his hat into the ring.

So far, Mr. Patil, belonging to the Lingayat community, was representing Sankeshwar in Hukkeri taluk in the Assembly. Now, a new constituency called Yamkanmardi has been formed and is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.

S.S. Bhimannavar, president of the Belgaum District Congress Committee confirmed to The Hindu on Sunday that Mr. Patil had submitted his application for the party ticket to contest from Belgaum.

The immediate reason for Mr. Patil to explore his electoral prospects outside his home constituency (Sankeshwar) to Belgaum, which has been delimited and named as “Belgaum North” is the change in the status of the newly created Yamkanmardi constituency. Being a Lingayat, he has no option but to look for some other segment as Yamkanmardi is now a reserved constituency.

Mr. Patil, who first contested from the Sankeshwar Assembly constituency in 1989 as an official candidate of the Janata Dal, lost to the former Minister Malhargouda Patil (Congress) by a margin of 4,128 votes.

In the 1994 polls, he registered his maiden electoral victory by defeating his nearest rival M.D. Nalvade (Congress) by a margin of 6,713 votes, pushing Mr. Malhargouda Patil to third place.

After the split in the Janata Dal, he chose to be with the Janata Dal (S) and was re-elected to the Assembly by a margin of 32,049 votes. He registered a hat trick in 2004 polls as a Congress candidate by winning against the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Rajendra Patil, but the victory margin fell to 11,208. One of the main reasons for him to quit the Janata Dal (U) was the growing differences with his one-time friend and former Minister Umesh V. Katti. In the elections for the board of directors of the Hira Sugars Limited in Sankeshwar held last year, the panel supported by Mr. Katti defeated the all-party panel supported by Mr. Patil and the former Minister Shashikant A. Nayak (BJP).

Now, Mr.Patil is anxious to revive his political career and is thus trying to get the party ticket to contest from Belgaum North.

Apparently, at least for the time being, Mr. Kudachi’s prospects of getting the party ticket are remote. Mr. Kudachi feels like that even as he is trying to woo the Marathi and Muslim voters hoping that he would get the ticket.

Talking to The Hindu recently about the changed situation in the Congress, he said: “I was the first Kannada-speaking candidate to keep the MES at bay in the 1999 and 2004 elections. I will fight.” Sources close to Mr. Kudachi do not rule out the possibility of his contesting as a “rebel” to damage the prospects of Mr. Patil in the event of the Congress ignoring his claim for the party ticket.

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