Dharam Singh’s eldest son to plunge into politics

BIDAR: In December when elections to the Upper House from the local bodies are scheduled to be held, Karnataka politics will witness the entry of one more ‘yuvaraj’- Mr Vijay Singh, eldest son of former Chief Minister Dharam Singh. He is all set to make a foray into politics as the Congress candidate from Bidar constituency.

Already Mr Vijay Singh’s younger brother Dr Ajay Singh is a legislator representing Jewargi constituency in the Assembly. The election to the Bidar seat would be held following expiry of the term of sitting MLC Basavaraj Patil Humnabad, who got elected on BJP ticket in 2009 following denial of Congress ticket to him. Due to illness, Mr Humnabad has decided not to contest the coming election.

An entrepreneur by profession, Mr Vijay Singh has kept himself away from politics except for helping his father during elections where Mr Dharamsingh got elected as the Bidar Lok Sabha member in 2009. It was after Mr Dharam Singh’s election that Mr Vijay Singh,  a resident of Bengaluru, started directly managing the affairs of Bidar constituency on his father’s behalf. Since 2009, he has been regularly visiting Bidar and spending the week ends there, while devoting rest of his time looking after an embroidery factory and other businesses in Bengaluru.

According to political observers though there are some competitors to Mr Vijay Singh, such as former Bidar District Congress Committee President Basavaraj Bulla and the younger son of sitting MLC Basavaraj  Patil Humnabad-Mr Bheemu Patil, the former stands a good chance of getting the ticket in view of the clout enjoyed by Singh senior in Delhi. “Moreover Mr Vijay Singh is related to AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, so getting the ticket would not a difficult task”,  a senior leader in Bidar confided.

A one line resolution passed by the Bidar DCC appealing to the high command to declare Mr Vijay Singh as the party candidate has come has a shot in the arm for him. “Following withdrawal of senior Congress leader Bheemanna Khandre from active politics, who was always at loggerheads with both Mr Dharam Singh as well as Mr Mallikarjun Kharge, there is virtually no leader who can challenge the authority of Mr Dharam Singh . Moreover unlike Bheemanna Khandre and Basavaraj Patil Humnabad, their sons Ishwar Khandre and Rajashekhar Patil, who are the sitting Congres MLAs from Bhalki and Humnabad, have come to conclusion that their interests would be served better by being in the good books of Mr Dharam Singh”, a senior political observer stated.

Meanwhile the BJP is understood to have decided to field former MLA from Bhalki Prakash Khandre as the candidate from the constituency.