Union Minister of State for Fertilizers and Chemicals Bhagwant Khuba, who entered the Lok Sabha in 2014 with a giant-killer tag defeating the former Chief Minister late N. Dharam Singh with a comfortable margin of 92,222 votes, is facing a litmus test this time. He has to face a tough fight from an incumbent Minister’s son on the one hand, and a section of disgruntled leaders from his own party on the other, in Bidar Parliamentary constituency.
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Mr. Khuba, who was a surprise selection against Congress strongman Mr. Singh in 2014, is facing 26-year-old Congress candidate Sagar Khandre, who is also a surprise choice of the party without any experience of fighting an election.
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However, Mr. Khandre has political legacy on his side. His grandfather, Bheemanna Khandre, was a former Minister and a senior Veerashaiva leader, while his father, Eshwar Khandre, is now Forest and Environment Minister. One of his uncles, Vijayakumar Khandre, was two-time MLA. His other uncle, Prakash Khandre, was also two-time MLA representing the BJP.
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Opposition within
Mr. Khuba’s campaign for his third contest for Bidar Lok Sabha seat began on the wrong foot with BJP strongman and Banjara community leader in Bidar district and former Minister Prabhu Chavan openly campaigning against him. Some other senior party leaders, including Eshwar Singh Thakur, who was an aspirant for the Bidar Lok Sabha seat this time, is keeping a low profile in the party campaign.
Even the Janata Dal (Secular) leaders, who have an alliance with the BJP in the State, have so far kept a low profile and interestingly senior JD(S) leader and former Minister Bandeppa Kashempur has kept himself away from the campaign, giving anxious moments for Mr. Khuba since Mr. Kashempur wields considerable influence in some pockets of the district, including Bidar South Assembly constituency, which returned him to Assembly for three times.
Compared to the two previous elections, the path appeared to be jotted with many hurdles for Mr. Khuba. In the last two elections, it was “Modi wave” that enabled him to emerge victorious, but the incumbent MP is indeed on a sticky wicket this time.
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His alleged failure as an MP and as a Minister in the Union Cabinet to fulfil the aspirations of the people of the backward Bidar district to bring any projects and his failure to retain a mega helicopter manufacturing factory, which was sanctioned to Bidar when Dharam Singh was the MP in the UPA government is not being taken kindly by the voters of the district. The unit was shifted to Tumakuru district, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023.
Interplay of castes
Congress candidate for Bidar Sagar Khandre and his father and Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre in conversation at a public meeting in Bidar. | Photo Credit: GOPICHAND T
Another factor which has made the BJP campaign managers spend sleepless nights is the presence of influential Maratha leader Dinakar More, a popular pediatrician from Kalaburagi in the fray as an Independent candidate. The Maratha community has a considerable number of votes in the constituency and a majority chunk of the Maratha voters are traditional BJP voters. Dr. More, who is the Kalaburagi district president of the Maratha community, is proving to be a thorn in the flesh of BJP candidates. According to a rough estimate, Marathas constitute around 1.35 lakh voters here.
Another factor which is working against the BJP chances is the large presence of Muslim votes that roughly constitute around 22%. As there is no Muslim candidates in the fray, the Congress is hoping to grab the community votes entirely. Lingayats constitute around 19% of the voters in the constituency, and with both contestants from the community, votes may be divided. Though Lingayats are seen as traditional BJP voters, the Khandre family here stakes greater claim to Lingayat leadership.
Mr. Sagar and his party leaders are banking on the five guarantee schemes implemented by the Congress-led government in State and also highlighting the lack of development in the Lok Sabha constituency, while Mr. Khuba is asking voters to elect him to make Mr. Modi the Prime Minister for the third time.