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The Congress party, which held the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat for 10 terms in succession starting 1951, is desperately trying to regain it. It is now resorting to the tactics used by the Janata Party in Chikkodi constituency in 1996 to wrest the seat from Congress i.e. field a woman candidate.
The Congress has announced the candidature of district Congress committee president Laxmi Hebbalkar who belongs to the dominant Lingayat community.
The BJP has already named sitting MP Suresh Angadi as its candidate. Angadi is aiming for a hat-trick of victories.
In 1996, the Janata Party succeeded in defeating a formidable candidate, seven time MP B Shankaranand of Congress, by fielding little known Ratnamala Savanur who later became Union minister.
Anjali Nimbalkar wife of IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar was also a strong aspirant but Laxmi had ensured she got the ticket even before the elections were formally announced.
Thirty eight year-old Laxmi is a post-graduate in political science and had contested the 2013 Assembly elections from Belgaum rural, but came third.
In 1951, Belgaum North Lok Sabha constituency was represented by Balawantrao Nageshrao Datar (Congress) while Shankaragouda V Patil represented Belgaum South. Chikkodi was carved out as a separate constituency and new Belgaum constituency was formed comprising of eight assembly segments in the district — Arabhavi, Gokak, Belgaum North, Belgaum South, Belgaum rural, Saundatti, Ramadurg and Bailhongal.
The constituency has three Congress MLAs, three BJP MLAs, one from KJP (now merged with BJP, taking BJP’s tally to four) and Maharastra Ekikarana Samiti has one legislator.
Congress has won the Belgaum Lok Sabha seat 11 times starting 1951 while BJP has held it three times and Janata Dal once.
Balwantrao Datar won the seat in 1951,1957, 1962, N B Nabisab held it in 1967, A V Kotrashetty won the seat for Congress in 1971, 1977, S B Sidnal won for four consecutive terms in 1980,1984,1989 and 1991 from Congress.
It was Shivanand Koujalagi (Janata Dal) who halted the winning spree of Congress in 1996 when he won defeating his nearest rival Babagouda Patil of BJP. Babagouda held the seat in 1998.
Amarsingh Patil secured the seat again for Congress in 1999. But he lost in two subsequent elections in 2004 and 2009 to BJP’s Suresh Angadi.
Will the Congress strategy click? That’s the moot question.
