Laxmi R. Hebbalkar, the current president of the Belagavi District Congress Committee has been made the president of Karnataka Pradesh Mahila Congress.
The announcement of her nomination to the coveted post in the State Congress echelons was made at New Delhi on Monday by the All India Congress Committee general secretary and MP, Janardan Dwivedi. Rahul Gandhi, Congress vice-president and in-charge of the Mahila Congress, approved the names for the presidentship of Mahila Congress in nine States.
Ms. Hebbalkar, who belongs to the Lingayat community, started exploring political career more than 15 years ago. She was nominated as general secretary of the Karnataka Pradesh Mahila Congress Committee for a short stint.
Subsequently, she was nominated to head the Belgaum District Congress Committee in December 2010 and became the first woman to head the district committee.
She contested from Belgaum Rural Legislative Assembly constituency in 2013 and lost by narrow margin. She tested her fortunes in the parliamentary elections in 2014 and lost with a margin of more than 75,000 votes against BJP’s Suresh C. Angadi in Belagavi amid nation-wide “Modi-wave”.
The Congress organisation in the district has not made any notable growth during her term as district president. Despite her commendable organising skills, Ms. Hebbalkar has not been able to make her leadership acceptable to the leaders and members of the party in the district during her four and half years stint as BDCC.
