KALABURAGI: The anguish that has built up in the Maratha community in Bidar district following denial of an Assembly ticket to at least one of their leaders, may prove costly for the BJP in the coming Assembly election.
The Marathas, who are next only to Lingayats and Dalits in Bidar district in numbers with a sizeable strength of over 2.5 lakh voters, play a decisive role in district politics. Although they are spread out in all six Assembly segments in the district, they are very crucial in three Assembly constituencies bordering Maharashtra- Basavakalyan, Bhalki and Aurad. It is estimated that there are over 45,000 Maratha community voters in Basavakalyan, 62,000 voters in Bhalki and 70,000 voters in Aurad.
As the Aurad seat has been reserved for the SC community and the BJP has already announced Mr Prakash Khandre as the candidate for the Bhalki seat, the Marathas, who have traditionally supported the BJP, had demanded the Basavakalyan seat for their leader Maruthirao Mule. Mr Mule, who began his political career with the Congress in the Eighties, is a senior leader in the district having won the seat in 1999.
After contesting on the BSR Congress ticket in the 2013 election, he joined the BJP along with his leader B Siramulu. Till Mr Mallikarjun Khuba joined the BJP last week, Mr Mule was touted to be the BJP candidate for Basavakalyan. Now, Mr Khuba has not only been admitted to the party disregarding strong protests from the community, he has also been given BJP ticket in the first list. “The Marathas, who are well organised can tilt the scale in three constituencies. Considering their support for BJP, the party should have given them representation The induction of two-term Lingayat MLA Mr Khuba has disappointed them. What is surprising is that the BJP, which hopes to win maximum number of seats this time, has decided to field only Lingayat candidates in all the five Assembly segments in the district. This is a big and risky gamble”, a political analyst observed. Protesting against the injustice, the Maratha leaders held a meeting at Basavakalyan to chalk out their course of action. They were expected to announce their decision to sever ties with the BJP and field their candidate, Mr Mule as an independent. But following a call by BJP state president Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa to their leader Digambrao Mankare , the Maratha leaders have decided to wait till their meeting on April 14.
