As the sugarcane-rich Jamkhandi in Bagalkot district gets set for byelections, with big leaders making whirlwind tours of the constituency, the real issues here seem to be getting buried under all the political dust.
Ever since the poll dates were announced, the Congress has sent former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, and former Minister M.B. Patil for canvassing. The BJP’s contingent has included its State president B.S. Yeddyurappa, Shobha Karandlaje, MP, and former Minister Govind Karjol.
But a closer look at the pattern of campaigning shows that there is little to it besides political blame game, with issues concerning the development of the region given the go-by.
Jamkhandi, which is known for extensive cultivation of sugarcane with full utilisation of water from the Krishna river, is one of the prosperous taluks of Bagalkot district. But it is not yet fully irrigated. The Galagali-Mareguddi lift irrigation project, worth ₹250 crore, has long been pending. The project to irrigate 15 villages in Jamkhandi and Bilagi taluks is yet to take off, although ₹100 crore was earmarked for it in the 2018 budget. The government hospital at the taluk centre lacks amenities and the proposal to upgrade it into a hi-tech hospital seems to have been buried. These issues, however, are rarely heard in the course of the campaign.
Not surprisingly, both major candidates in the fray — Anand Nyamagouda of the Congress and Shrikanth Kulkarni of the BJP — offer different arguments.
Mr. Nyamagouda is harnessing his late father’s image to further his argument. “My father Siddu Nyamagouda dreamt of Jamkhandi’s development. Completion of the Mareguddi lift irrigation project, establishment of a 250-bed hi-tech hospital, a digital library, and a polytechnic are some of the development works that I have been talking of during the campaign. My father always believed in politics of development, which I wish to continue.”
Claiming that development was the BJP’s key agenda, Mr. Kulkarni dismissed the allegation that local development issues were being ignored; he, however, admitted that State leaders were raising “larger issues”. “I have been raising the issue of neglect of the taluk. The Congress government has not completed the Tubachi-Babaleshwar lift irrigation project, which would have irrigated parts of Jamkhandi taluk. During his tenure as Minister, M.B. Patil focussed on tank-filling projects in Vijayapura district and neglected Jamkhandi,” he said.
