Did lack of suitable nominee in Chitradurga made BJP field 'outsider' Karjol?

The BJP had a tough time in finding a winnable candidate for Chitradurga (reserve) parliamentary seat. Lack of winnable candidates belonging to scheduled castes, particularly the Madiga community, is said to have prompted the saffron party to field former deputy chief minister Govind Karjol, a former five-time MLA from Mudhol in Bagalkot district, as its nominee.

Incumbent MP and union minister A Narayanswamy had announced that he was not keen to seek re-election well before the notification of general elections. It is said that he did not have good rapport with district BJP leaders. Also, the internal survey did not favour his candidature either. However, the party, including the incumbent MP, wanted to field an able leader from the Madiga community as the constituency has over 4 lakh voters of the community. So, the BJP leadership chose Govind Karjol of Madiga community, as party candidate for Chitradurga.

Veteran BJP leader and former MLA G H Thippareddy told DH both the parties - BJP and the Congress - are grappling with lack of strong local leaders belonging to SC community. Also, the number of aspirants for Lok Sabha polls is less as one has to be good in communication skills and knowledge of English and Hindi is mandatory to get work done in New Delhi. All these factors have turned out to be a hurdle for most of the local leaders.

Reddy said Karjol was behind the construction of check dams in Challakere and Molakalmur region during his tenure as irrigation minister.  So, Chitradurga is not something new for him and he had visited the district many times during his tenure as minister in the BJP-led government.

Davangere University’s Political Science professor Ashok Kumar V Paled told DH, “Madigas form a major chunk of voters in Chitradurga Lok Sabha constituency. Voters of Madiga community are not bothered whether the candidate is from Chitradurga or some other district, due to various factors including, lack of education, poverty. But caste does play a key role in such constituencies. The local and outsider factors don’t matter to them at all.”

Karjol will take on Congress’ B N Chandrappa, who was elected as MP in 2014, but lost in 2019. Both the candidates belong to the Madiga community and a keen contest is on the cards in Chitradurga.

B N Chandrappa

On outsider talk, Govind Karjol told DH that he is not an outsider as Bharat belongs to every citizen of the country. “Besides, I have been in politics for the last three decades and served as minister, deputy chief minister of the state. So, I can’t be an outsider.”

Expressing his gratitude to the local leaders of Chitradurga, he said, the local BJP leaders, along with JD(S) leaders, appealed to the national leaders to field him as the party nominee. “I am confident of winning Chitradurga seat and making Modi as prime minister again. I would also live up to the expectations of people of the constituency if elected.”