Contractor’s suicide: BJP has little ammo to breach Kharges’ fort in KK region

Kalaburagi: The scheduled caste and scheduled tribes communities in Kalyana Karnataka (KK) seem to have consolidated behind district incharge Minister Priyank Kharge after the twin issues - Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement about Dr Ambedkar and suicide case of contractor Sachin Panchal - rocked the region.

Most Dalit organisations have rallied behind Priyank, though BJP has upped the ante demanding his resignation.

The party is finding it difficult to make inroads into SC/ST communities, especially the SC-right community, to which Kharge belongs. It forms a major chunk of the population here. There are 101 castes under SC list classified into SC-right hand and left hand.

Siege to Priyank’s house today

State BJP president B Y Vijayendra, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka and his counterpart in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy are visiting Kalaburagi on Saturday, to lay siege to Priyank’s house, demanding a CBI probe into the suicide case. 

Out of the total 41 Assembly constituencies in KK region, 18 are reserved for SCs and STs. 

The SC/STs are said to have helped the Congress sweep all five Lok Sabha in the 2024 elections, apart from contributing immensely for the grand old party to return to power after the 2023 Assembly elections, in which BJP failed to make a mark here. 

Bandhs in region 

The SC/ST communities are continuing to express outrage against Amit Shah by observing total bandhs in district headquarters, taluks and hobli centres.

Also worrying the BJP is the fact that most Dalit leaders are publicly expressing support to Priyank over the contractor’s suicide.

“It is true that there is anxiety among BJP leaders as Dalit organisations are backing Priyank. But the bandh being observed by them against Shah is hijacked by Congress, by twisting facts and distorting his statement. We are conducting Samvidhan Samman Abhiyan at the ground level to allay fears among Dalits that the Constitution would be changed,” BJP SC Morcha former vice president Ambaray Ashtagi said.

There is also resentment among BJP leaders against the ‘neglect’ of SC-right community, which constitutes more than half of the population of Dalits and owes allegiance to the Kharge family.

No big SC-right leader in BJP

“The community feels that giving proper positions to people in the community will help groom a leadership to counter the Kharges. There is a lack of prominent leaders from SC-right in our party to take on Priyank and his father Mallikarjun Kharge,” he said.

Political observers feel that it is going to be a tough task for BJP to woo back Dalits, especially the SC-right in the region, after Kharge Senior became AICC president.

The guarantee schemes of the Congress government has helped the party consolidate its position.

“SC-right are already moving towards Congress if you look at the previous elections. Dalit organisations are backing Priyank as he is very vocal and represents a new aspirational generation of Dalits,” says political observer and former Raichur University vice-chancellor Harish Ramaswamy.

Senior Dalit leader Vittal Doddamani said, “We have no objection if action is taken as per law in the contractor’s suicide case. But BJP leaders are targeting Priyank, even though he has no role in it. So, Dalits, including Madigas, are supporting him,” he said.