Will it be Mallikarjun Kharge vs Umesh Jadhav in Kalaburagi?

BENGALURU: As mega polls near, interesting possibilities spring up. This time, Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge may have to taken Chincholi MLA Umesh Jadhav, currently in his own party, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. According to sources, Jadhav who was identified with rebels Congress legislators in Mumbai and returned only after the Yeddyurappa audiotape scandal was exposed, is likely to quit the Congress and contest from Kalaburagi on the BJP ticket. 

When TNIE asked him if he is in the Congress on a temporary basis, Jadhav said with laughter, “I am still in the decision-making stage and announce it very shortly.’’Asked if it would bring him a bad name, Jadhav said, “I am with my people. Whatever they tell me, I will be doing.’’ He said he has a few issues to be settled before he takes a decision. 

Sources in the Congress and BJP agreed that it is only a matter of time before Jadhav decides to jump the ship. For the BJP, Jadhav’s entry is very important because Revu Naik Belamagi who earlier contested against Kharge and lost by about 73,000 votes, quit the party in a huff, after being denied ticket for assembly polls.

For the party’s sake, the candidature of Jadhav is important as, without him, it will find it difficult to get a good challenger to Kharge. This has been BJP’s strategy even earlier. In 2009, it got Gurupadappa Nagamarpalli from the Congress and Beelmagi from the JD(S) in 2014.