In the district having two former Ministers — Vinay Kulkarni and Santosh Lad — only one has made it to the State Cabinet. Four-time MLA from Kalaghatagi and mining baron Santosh Lad was sworn in as Minister in the Cabinet of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday.
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There were three contenders for the berth. Apart from the two former Ministers, three-time MLA Prasad Abbayya too was lobbying for berth this time.
Although both Mr. Lad and Mr. Kulkarni are said to have close association with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, luck has favoured Mr. Lad, a Maratha leader.
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Mr. Kulkarni, a Lingayat Panchamasali leader seems to have missed the berth for two main reasons. The first one is that Congress has chosen six Lingayat candidates for inclusion in the State Cabinet and the second is the criminal case against Mr. Kulkarni, because of which he is barred from entering Dharwad district. Mr. Kulkarni, in fact, won the election, without entering the constituency for canvassing. He used technology to spread his message and the rest was done by Congress leaders and workers with his wife Shivaleela leading the campaign at the ground level.
Born into a mining family from Sandur in Ballari district, Santosh Lad began his political career as a member of Sandur Town Panchayat in 1998. After having suffered few debacles in politics, he subsequently went on to become MLA of Sandur in 2003 on a JD(S) ticket. He then joined the Indian National Congress in 2007. As the Sandur Assembly segment was reserved for Scheduled Tribes after delimitation of the constituencies, Mr. Lad shifted to Kalaghatagi Assembly Constituency in Dharwad district as it has a sizeable Maratha population, to which he belongs. He started preparations well in advance through benevolent works and won the constituency with comfortable margin in 2008. Despite complaints of a disappearance, he won again in 2013. However, his long absence from the constituency following health and other issues resulted in his defeat in 2018 and the seat was won by BJP leader C.M. Nimbannavar.
Considering past experience, Mr. Lad swung into action much in advance for the 2023 Assembly elections. And although his friend-turned-foe Nagaraj Chabbi switched over to BJP from Congress, he managed to register a comfortable victory this time. In the previous Siddaramaiah led government, Mr. Lad served as Labour Minister. He was dropped following charges of illegal mining but was subsequently reinducted.
His induction in the State Cabinet was celebrated by his followers in Dharwad and Kalaghatagi on Saturday. As he was sworn in as Minister, Congress workers in Dharwad celebrated Vijayotsava at Swami Vivekanand Circle by distributing sweets.