Satish Jarkiholi and Laxmi Hebbalkar, Ministers with their clout and leaders of different caste groups that tend to compete for power, came together to campaign for their respective children who represent the Congress, in Gokak on Thursday.
Ms. Laxmi Hebbalkar’s son Mrinal Hebbalkar is fighting from the Belagavi Lok Sabha constituency while Mr. Satish Jarkiholi’s daughter Priyanka Jarkiholi is entering the fray from the Chikkodi constituency. It is the first election for the two candidates, though their families do not lack electoral experience.
Common aim
Ms. Laxmi Hebbalkar said that while she would work hard to campaign for Ms. Priyanka Jarkiholi in Chikkodi, Mr. Satish Jarkiholi had promised to do the same for Mr. Mrinal Hebbalkar. “Our common aim is to see that the Congress wins both seats in the district,” she said.
The Congress district unit believes that the party needed to show solidarity with Mr. Mrinal Hebbalkar and his mother by organising a public event in Gokak. “It was also essential to send across a message that not all Jarkiholi brothers are with the BJP. It was all the more important to see that Mr. Satish Jarkiholi inaugurates the Gokak rally as his brother Ramesh Jarkiholi and Ms. Hebbalkar have had some serious political confrontation in the past,” said a Congress leader.
Other brothers
Another brother, Balachandra Jarkiholi, had brushed aside suggestions that he and his brothers would put family above party affiliations. Meanwhile, Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi visited incumbent MP Mangala Angadi’s home office in Belagavi on Thursday afternoon to meet the BJP candidate for Belagavi Jagadish Shettar. “Mr. Shettar sought his cooperation and Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi readily agreed,” said a BJP leader.
