Karnataka - Gulbarga   

He aims to create a record Key constituencies: Jewargi

N. Dharam Singh

GULBARGA: History is in the making in Jewargi Assembly constituency where former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh is seeking re-election for a record ninth time in a row. A determined BJP is making an all-out bid to prevent Mr. Singh from creating the record.

Apart from his BJP rival Doddappa Appa Gowda Naribol, Mr. Singh is facing 16 other candidates, including the Janata Dal (S) rebel Kedarlingaiah Hiremath, fighting as the district Raitha Horata Samiti candidate after the party refused him the ticket.

The Janata Dal (S) has fielded a little known Basavaraj and the Janata Dal (U) Siddanagowda.

The constituency has been a Congress stronghold and only twice have party candidates been defeated. The constituency has been electing Mr. Singh since 1972. His down-to-earth approach, his equation with the voters and the solid groundwork done by his son Ajay Singh in the constituency has stood Mr. Singh in good stead.

The BJP is missing Shivalingappa Patil Naribol, who died two years ago. The party has nominated his son Doddappa Gowda Naribol to take on Mr. Singh this time.

In the 1994 elections, Shivalingappa Naribol fought as a Karnataka Congress Party candidate and lost by a margin of 4,000 votes, and in the 1999 elections as a BJP nominee he came very close to beating Mr. Singh, losing by a margin of 1,961 votes. In the 2004 elections, Mr. Singh won by a margin of 2,731 votes.

Mr. Singh has been intensively campaigning in the constituency, covering all the villages.

The restrictions imposed by the Election Commission have affected the usual style of Mr. Singh’s campaign of holding public meetings. It is confined to holding group meetings under the shade of the trees in villages.

“But the restrictions have come as a blessing in disguise for me as I can personally meet the people and understand their problems,” Mr. Singh said during his door-to-door campaign at Ijeri in Jewargi taluk.

Mr. Singh said his election would be easy as the development activities he had undertaken had increased his vote base. However, his detractors, particularly BJP leaders, say that Jewargi has remained one of the most backward areas and has been ranked last by the High-Powered Committee for Redressal of Regional Imbalance, headed by D.M. Nanjundappa.

Mr. Singh’s stock went up after he got the support of the influential Lingayat leader Shankargowda Kallur, husband of zilla panchayat president Bharati Shankargowda.

The presence of Mr. Kedarlingaiah Hiremath is likely to divide the Lingayat votes, which would ultimately help Mr. Singh, according to political observers.

The total electorate in the constituency is 1,47,833 — 75,779 men and 72,054 women.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Uphill task for Veerbasantreddy in Yadgir segment
He aims to create a record Key constituencies: Jewargi
‘There is no doubt about BJP’s success’

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu