VIJAYAPURA: At a roadside tea stall in Chikka Sindhagi, a village in Sindhagi taluk in Vijayapura district, a group of men discusses whom to elect. For them, it is just another Lok Sabha election, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not aware of what is going on in national politics.

Among those gathered is noted theatre artiste and leading Sandalwood comedian Raju Talikoti, who is also a farmer in the village. “The people are suffering due to local issues and the Centre’s policies. At the local level, scarcity of water, the grape growers’ loan waiver and migration in search of jobs are unresolved issues. On national politics, I don’t think a lot has changed since this government assumed power in 2014.

I would say that many farmers suffered because of demonetisation,” he says, as many agree with him.
Not Siddu, a cab driver. Defending PM Narendra Modi, he says that demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax will take the country forward in terms of economic growth. “However, it takes time. The BJP government is committed to national security. The Balakot attack is an example of how the government retaliated after Pulwama,” he declares.

That seems to sum up the battle in this erstwhile capital of the Adil Shahi dynasty. Bijapur, a stronghold of the Congress till 1999, is now a saffron pocket. For voters in recent years, it is the party which matters. BJP won the constituency for the first time in 1999, when Basanagouda Patil Yatnal became MP, and was re-elected in 2004. After the constituency was reserved for the scheduled caste, Ramesh Jigajinagi was elected in 2009 and 2014, and is looking at a third term.

He faces Sunita Chavan, a novice, as his opponent from the JD(S). As per the seat-sharing, JD(S) got Bijapur, much to the disappointment of Congress workers. JD(S) struggled to find a candidate, and finally settled for Sunita, wife of Nagathan JD(S) MLA Devanand Chavan.

Jigajinagi woos young voters

The BJP knows it’s a battle almost won. It is banking on the popularity of Jigajinagi, who is also Union minister for drinking water and sanitation, and Jigajinagi himself is confident that the Modi wave will sweep him along. He has a happy relationship with voters as well as his party workers, and is an accessible leader. When he meets the public, he embraces them with terms of familiarity, like ‘Anna, Akka or Kaaka’ (brother, sister or uncle), a surefire tactic to win hearts. Besides, he’s had a good relationship with some Congress leaders, and enjoys their indirect support.

While people above the age of 50 vote for him anyway, he is now eyeing the young bloc, and reaching out to voters at the village level. In 2014, Jigajinagi got 4,71,757 (48.8%) votes, while Congress candidate Prakash Rathod bagged 4,01,938 (41.6%).

BJP has already roped in Modi to campaign in Bagalkot on Thursday, and minister Smriti Irani on Friday, while the alliance candidate is yet to get star campaigners such as Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Congress-JD(S) workers, though campaigning together, are yet to intensify their campaign. Home Minister M B Patil, who had been claiming that a JD(S) candidate would not be allowed here, is now forced to back Sunita Chavan. She has the backing of her MLA husband and the support of the Lambani community.

An undaunted coalition is highlighting the MP’s failures. They say that while the state government decided to increase the height of Almatti dam from 519 metres to 525 metres, and construct lift irrigation projects under the Upper Krishna River Project to irrigate five lakh hectares in North Karnataka, the project has not taken off as the Centre failed to act on this.

They are also highlighting the grape growers’ long wait for their loan waiver of Rs 1,000 crore loan from nationalised banks. Grape growers, due to lack of a fair price, are selling their produce to traders in Maharashtra. While a tonne of dried grape was being sold for Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh a few years ago, it has come down to Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.8 lakh.

Besides, Jigajinagi failed to solve the drinking water problem, though his portfolio is water and sanitation, and also push for UNESCO heritage tags for monuments.