The Congress has finalised the candidature of former Minister and incumbent MLA Satish Jarkiholi for the byelection to the Belagavi Lok Sabha constituency, which will be held on April 17.
In a press release on Friday, AICC said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the name of Mr. Satish as the party’s candidate. With this, Mr. Satish is all set to take on Mangala Suresh Angadi, wife of former Union Minister the late Suresh Angadi, who is making an electoral debut as BJP candidate.
Known to be a soft-spoken person, Mr. Satish, 58, currently represents the Yamakanmardi reserve constituency (ST) in Belagavi district, which falls under Chikkodi parliamentary constituency in the Legislative Assembly. A few days ago, he visited Delhi and held consultations with the Congress high command.
He served as Minister in the previous coalition government led by H.D. Kumaraswamy and the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government prior to it.
Mr. Satishi’s brothers Ramesh Jarkiholi and Balachandra Jarkiholi are BJP MLAs. Mr. Ramesh is currently in the news for his alleged involvement in the sex CD scandal, where he is accused of sexually exploiting a woman after promising her a job. While the Special Investigation Team has been investigating the “conspiracy” angle based on Mr. Ramesh’s complaint, the woman on Friday filed a complaint accusing him of exploitation.
Poll pitch
This issue is expected to be pitched in the poll campaign in the constituency to embarrass the BJP, though it is being watched with curiosity how it will be framed given that the accused is the brother of the candidate. The Congress had demanded a Karnataka High Court Chief Justice-monitored probe into the CD scandal but the BJP government rejected it outright.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Suresh Angadi defeated V.S. Sadhunavar of the Congress with a margin of 3.91 lakh votes in the constituency spread over eight Assembly constituencies. Out of eight constituencies, the Congress has MLAs representing two constituencies, while the rest are held by the BJP.
