Karnataka: Assembly or Lok Sabha? Belamagi puts all in a fix

Kalaburagi: With elections to the state Assembly fast approaching, a debate has begun on whether former minister, Revu Naik Belamagi, will contest from the Kalaburagi rural constituency, which elected him in 2008, or  the Kalaburagi Lok Sabha seat that he lost to senior Congress leader, Mallikarjun Kharge in  2009.

The four time MLA  was fielded as a BJP candidate against Mr Kharge in the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but lost  both times. Although he had reportedly begged state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurappa  not to field him from Kalaburagi in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the party believed he could pose a tough challenge to Mr Kharge. And in 2013 both Mr Belamagi and other senior leaders  felt the strong Modi wave would carry him through, but had reckoned without  the groundswell of support for Mr Kharge, who had played a pivotal role in getting Article 371 of the Constitution amended for the welfare of the region.   

According to party sources, although Mr Belagami is keen on contesting  the Assembly elections, a section of BJP leaders in the district are trying to foil his attempts by claiming he should concentrate on the LS poll and give others a chance to contest the assembly seat.

"As BJP has so far given  reserved tickets in the district to only Lambanis and Bhovis among the scheduled castes, they want one of the three reserved seats, preferably Kalaburagi rural seat, to  go to the SC left category," said a party insider.