Karnataka - Gulbarga   

A shot in the arm for the BJP in Gulbarga

GULBARGA: The decision of the former Minister Vaijnath Patil, who quit the Congress a couple of days back, and the former MLA Basavantreddy Motakpalli of the Congress deciding to support the Bharatiya Janata Party candidates in Sedam and Chincholi Assembly constituencies has come as a much needed booster to the campaign of the BJP to win more seats in the district.

Along with this, one more senior leader and the former Deputy Speaker Chandrasekhar Reddy Madana Deshmukh deciding to resign from Janata Dal (Secular) and joining the BJP has improved the chances of the party to do well in at least one Assembly segment this time.

Both Mr. Motakpalli and Mr. Deshmukh, belong to powerful Reddy Lingayat community and hail from Sedam taluk.

The one-time political foes have now joined hands on a common agenda to defeat Congress candidate Sharanaprakash Patil in Sedam Assembly Constituency in the coming elections.

Although Mr. Motakpalli and Mr. Vaijnath Patil have not formally joined the BJP, both have extended their support to the BJP candidate from Sedam Rajkumar Telkur. Mr. Vaijnath Patil, who hails from Chincholi, had openly declared his support to BJP candidate Sunil Valyapur in Chincholi (Reserved) Assembly Constituency.

These developments have dealt a blow to the efforts of the Congress to stage a comeback in the district after faring badly in the 2004 elections by winning only three seats.

The combination of Mr. Motakpalli and Mr. Deshmukh may turn potent against the Congress candidate in Sedam since both the leaders enjoy good support base among the powerful Reddy Lingayat community in the constituency, which controls the votes of other communities owing to their large land holdings.

Mr. Patil also can damage the Congress’s chances in Sedam Assembly constituency since one major circle — Sulepet — which was earlier part of Chincholi Assembly Constituency has now been merged with Sedam Assembly Constituency and Mr. Patil has a good say in the Sulepet circle which has about 30,000 votes. Along with this, Mr Patil has the potential to play spoilsport for Congress candidate Baburao Chavan in Chincholi by turning his supporters and vote base against the latter.

For Sharanaprakash Patil re-election this time appears to be an uphill task with all major forces ganging up against him.

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