At an election rally in his home turf, Afzalpur in Kalaburagi district, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress MLA M.Y. Patil had emotionally called upon the people of his constituency to vote for Congress candidate Radhakrishna Doddamani, son-in-law of All India Congress Committee (AICC) president M. Mallikarjun Kharge, and give him a lead with a huge margin against his rival, incumbent BJP MP Umesh Jadhav, so that he could have a sense of satisfaction of repaying Mr. Kharge who had done a lot for him.
There was a strong reason for his appeal. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it was the Afzalpur Assembly segment which, along with Jewargi, had greatly contributed to the defeat of Mr. Kharge by giving a huge lead to Dr. Jadhav.
Mr. Kharge was the man who brought Mr. Patil to the Congress and got him party ticket to contest the 2018 Assembly elections from Afzalpur.
A year after Mr. Patil was elected as MLA from the constituency, Lok Sabha elections came and Mr. Kharge was the Congress candidate in Kalaburagi. It was, then, Mr. Patil’s turn to repay Mr. Kharge by getting him the lead in his constituency against the BJP candidate. But, Dr. Jadhav obtained a lead of over 36,000 votes against Mr. Kharge in Afzalpur.
“I owe a lot to Mr. Kharge. He was the one who brought me to the Congress and made me an MLA of this constituency. But, I could not give him a lead in the last Lok Sabha elections. It was my Assembly constituency that greatly contributed to the defeat of Mr. Kharge. I appeal to the people of this constituency to give Mr. Doddamani a huge margin over Dr. Jadhav this time so that I can have a sense of having repaid to Mr. Kharge,” Mr. Patil told the rally ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Unfortunately for him, Dr. Jadhav again got an impressive margin of 20,629 votes against Mr. Doddamani in the Afzalpur segment. Dr. Jadhav polled 85,929 votes as compared to Mr. Doddamani’s 65,300 votes. The former Minister Malikayya Guttedar quitting the BJP and coming back to the Congress did not help the Congress in the constituency.
Jewargi Assembly segment represented by Congress MLA Ajay Singh, the son of former Chief Minister late N. Dharam Singh, also contributed greatly to the defeat of Mr. Kharge in 2019 by giving a lead of over 26,000 votes to Dr. Jadhav. This time also, the constituency, which continues to be represented by Mr. Singh in the Assembly, gave a lead of 5,026 votes to the BJP.
Surprisingly, Gurmitkal constituency in Yadgir district, which has been represented by Mr. Kharge for eight terms in the Assembly, also gave a considerable lead of 16,402 votes to the BJP. Dr. Jadhav polled 82,642 votes and Mr. Doddamani secured 66,240 votes there.
Kalaburagi South segment represented by Congress MLA Allamaprabhu Patil also gave a lead of 9,288 votes to the BJP. Dr. Jadhav polled 87,078 votes and Mr. Doddamani secured 77,790 votes.
Then, which segments compensated the loss in these constituencies and helped the Congress candidate emerge victorious?
It was undoubtedly the Kalaburagi North represented by Congress MLA Kaneez Fatima (the wife of Muslim leader and former Minister late Qamar-ul-Islam) and Chittapur represented by Mr. Kharge’s son and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge that played a crucial role in rescuing the sinking Congress candidate.
Kalaburagi North alone gave a massive lead of 51,729 votes to the Congress to compensate for the loss incurred in the other constituencies. Mr. Doddamani polled a whooping 1,22,042 votes compared to the 70,313 votes polled by Dr. Jadhav there.
Chittapur gave an impressive lead of 16,340 votes to the Congress. Mr. Doddamani polled 80,756 votes and Dr. Jadhav polled 64,416 votes.
Sedam segment represented by Congress MLA and Medical Education Minister Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil, who was viewed as a blue-eyed boy of Kharge Senior, gave a lead of 9,207 votes to the Congress candidate.
Though this margin appeared to be unsatisfactory as compared to the huge margin of 43,561 votes that he had secured over his BJP rival Rajkumar Patil Telkur in the Assembly elections just a year ago, it did help Congress to compensate for the loss in other Assembly segments.
The Congress also managed to get a lead of 2,077 votes in a BJP constituency, Kalaburagi Rural represented by Basavaraj Mattimadu, to finally emerge victorious with a margin of 27,205 votes.
