The Hubbali Dharwad Central constituency has set the stage for an epic battle between Jagadish Shettar from the Indian National Congress (INC) and Mahesh Tenginakai from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Siddalingeshgow da Mahanthavadeyar is the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate from the constituency and is taking on both the BJP and Congress leaders.
Hubbali Dharwad Central comes under Dharwad district of Karnataka State.
In 2018, Jagadish Shettar of the BJP won the seat by defeating Dr. Mahesh Nalwad of the Congress party with a margin of 21,306 votes.
Hubballi Dharwad Central gave Karnataka two Chief Ministers SR Bommai, father of the current Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, and Jagadish Shettar.
Shettar, the senior most BJP and Lingayat leader from North Karnataka, quit the saffron party after being denied a ticket from Hubballi Dharwad Central, which he won successively for six times from 1994 as the party’s candidate.
In the first four Assembly elections, the seat, then known as Hubballi Rural Assembly Constituency, was won by the Congress and it was in 1978 that SR Bommai of Janata Party wrested power from the Congress. SR Bommai retained the seat for two more terms before becoming the Chief Minister of the State. However, he failed to retain it as the Janata Dal candidate in 1989 after being beaten by Congress party’s GR Sandra.
Meanwhile, for the grand old party, there is hope of winning the seat after a gap of three decades.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the joining of the prominent Lingayat leader will empower the party.
BJP general secretary Tenginakai belongs to the Banajiga sub-caste of Veerashaiva-Lingayat. While Shettar believes that BJP national general secretary BL Santhosh is responsible for his exit from the party , Tenginakai denied the allegations that Santhosh ensured that party denied ticket to Shettar.
Tenginakai said that the party is bigger than any individual in the BJP. “All individual leaders, however big they are, have to follow the systems and processes in the BJP. No one in the BJP is involved in hero worship,” he said.
He added that the decision to deny ticket to Shettar was taken by the Central leadership after conducting surveys in the local and district levels.
After Shettar joined the Congress party, Tenginakai said: ‘Jagadish Shettar is my guru, but this time he has made a Wrong Decision’
Out of 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly, the winning party must have at least 113 seats from the government in Karnataka.
The Karnataka Assembly Election 2023 is currently underway and will continue till 6 pm amid tight security arrangements. The voter turnout was recorded at 20.99% till 11 am. The results for the high-stake polls will be declared on May 13.