Karnataka Polls: The fist called Jarkiholi brothers & their quest to be Belagavi politics’ first family

The political battle in Belagavi district’s 18 Assembly segments is between the BJP and the Congress.

But underlying it is a battle for political supremacy between Lingayat leaders in the district and the Jarkiholis.

The district, bordering Maharashtra, was once known for dominance of Lingayats. Part of it was a fiefdom of the Kurubas.

Now, with prominent Lingayat and Kuruba leaders not visible much on the ground, it has become a bastion of the five Jarkiholi brothers.

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Earlier, the influence of leaders from the SC/ST community was confined to the segments reserved for them. But the realm of influence of the Jarkiholis, belonging to the Nayak community (a scheduled tribes community), widened over the years.

The Jarkiholis were excise contractors and own several sugar factories to this day. They came into political prominence in 1999, with the eldest of the brothers, Ramesh, winning the Gokak-reserved Assembly seat on a Congress ticket. He went on to win the subsequent elections in 2004, 2008, 2013 and 2018.

Ramesh also ensured that his siblings - Satish, Balachandra and Lakhan - joined politics.

Satish represents Yamakanmardi, while Balachandra represents Arabhavi and Lakhan is an independent MLC.

In 1999, Ramesh and Satish joined Congress. While Satish continued in Congress, Ramesh defected to BJP in 2019. Balachandra has always remained in BJP.

The Jarkiholis took up development works in their respective constituencies, represented different parties and became stronger by the day.

The Lingayat/Kuruba dominance started declining with either the demise or absence of prominent leaders like V S Koujalgi, V L Patil, Shivanand Koujalgi, Vishwanath Katti and others.

Ramesh is said to have engineered the downfall of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government by getting 17 MLAs to resign, paving the way for BJP to assume power.

All the 17 joined BJP and faced byelections in 2019. Of them, 15, including Ramesh, won.

His alleged involvement in a sex-for-job scandal cost him the ministerial position.

There is a popular belief in Belagavi district that despite being in different parties, the Jarkiholi brothers are united when it comes to protecting family interests.

“It is a well-designed ploy of the Jarkiholis to be in different parties and use the positions to protect and promote the family’s political dominance,” says Ashok Chandargi, political observer.

The clout of Ramesh is evident from the fact that he has the capacity to decide who should be his opponent in elections, Chandargi adds. “Same is the case with Satish Jarkiholi.”

In fact, Ramesh has faced his own brothers in three elections and won. In the 2008 election, Ashok Pujari, a Lingayat leader and strong rival of Ramesh, was in the fray as JD(S) candidate.

“Sensing that it could be a difficult tussle, Ramesh, along with Balachandra, met BJP leaders in Delhi and succeeded in getting a BJP ticket for his brother Bhimsi. This tactic resulted in non-Congress votes getting divided and facilitating Ramesh’s victory,” says Chandargi.

Ramesh secured 44,989 votes, while Pujari got 37,229 votes. Bhimsi Jarkiholi managed to get 34,958 votes.

Bhimsi contested again in 2013 as an independent against Ramesh, but could manage less than 2,000 votes. BJP had fielded Vasudeva Soutikai, a close aide of Ramesh. He secured 4,293 votes and lost his deposit.

In the 2019 by-election, Ramesh, who had shifted to BJP, continued to exercise his clout by getting his brother Lakhan to contest against him as a Congress candidate.

Balachandra Jarkiholi is a BJP MLA from Arabhavi, which was earlier a bastion of Congress. “Lingayat dominance suffered with the second line of leaders like Suresh Angadi, Umesh Katti and Anand Mamani passing away,” explains Chandargi.

Another prominent Lingayat leader and Karnataka Lingayat Education Society Chairman Prabhakar Kore, a former Rajya Sabha member from BJP, is upset at not being renominated to the Upper House. He has remained neutral in political activities.

BJP MP Annasaheb Jolle and his wife, Minister Shashikala Jolle, have confined themselves to their constituencies as they are facing anti-incumbency this time.

On the other side of the political divide is Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar, who with support from KPCC president D K Shivakumar, is in a race for dominance in the district.

Similarly, Laxman Savadi, who left the BJP to join Congress, is trying to reinstate the Lingayat hold on the district.

“Ramesh is sparing no effort to defeat Hebbalkar and Savadi,” says political analyst Avinash Patil.

Ramesh is seen campaigning more in Athani and Belagavi Rural for BJP candidates these days, rather than meeting his voters in Gokak.

Political observers say Satish, also the KPCC working president, silently supports Ramesh’s strategies to ensure that no Lingayat leader from the Congress challenges his supremacy in the district.

As the Jarkiholis try to take control of Belagavi, several members of the Lingayat community are unhappy with the transition, but are unable to find leaders who can take the lead.

Not willing to meddle in such a murky situation, Prakash Hukkeri, a strong Lingayat leader and former Congress MLC, has confined himself to Chikkodi-Sadalga where his son Ganesh is the Congress candidate.