Lakhan Jarkiholi, the youngest member of the powerful Jarkiholi family from Gokak, has announced that he will join the BJP and fight against his brother and senior Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi.
Reports of him joining the BJP in a daily owned by the family led to discussion among political circles on Thursday. According to the news report, Mr. Lakhan Jarkiholi is likely to join the BJP on March 25 and contest against his brother.
Mr. Lakhan Jarkiholi is the only one among the five siblings who has not fought an election before. While three brothers — Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mr. Satish Jarkiholi and Balachandra Jarkiholi — are MLAs, Bhimshi Jarkiholi had fought as a BJP nominee and lost against Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi from Gokak in 2008.
While Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi is the Belagavi district in-charge Minister, Mr. Satish Jarkiholi is the AICC secretary in charge of Telangana. Mr. Bhalachandra Jarkiholi shifted from the JD(S) to the BJP in the “operation lotus” of 2008, and has been a Minister twice.
Mr. Lakhan Jarkiholi confirmed to The Hindu he had decided to join the BJP. He said Mr. Satish Jarkiholi had been representing Yamakanamaradi constituency for 10 years now, but there was no development there.
“He is not accessible to the people of the constituency, and his personal assistants run his office. I have decided to contest from the BJP from Yamakanamaradi to end the ‘PA raj’ in that constituency,” he said.
Mr. Lakhan Jarkiholi and Mr. Satish Jarkiholi have been speaking against each other for some time now.
In early 2017, Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi publicly appealed to Mr. Satish Jarkiholi to move out of Yamakanamaradi and let Mr. Lakhan Jarkiholi contest from there. Mr. Satish Jarkiholi did not concede.
‘It’s an old game’
Some leaders in the Belagavi Congress are sceptical of the move. They believe this is a “well-planned ploy” to prevent other BJP leaders from contesting against Mr. Satish Jarkiholi. “This is not the first time the Jarkiholi brothers are playing this game. Mr. Bhimshi Jarkiholi fought against Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi and lost the seat. They want to contain the competition,” said a senior Congress leader.
Ashok Pujari, the long-standing political rival of Mr. Ramesh Jarkiholi, claimed, “They give statements against each other in public. But deep down, they are all together. Their political outcomes are tied to their large business interests.”
