Belgaum Lok Sabha Elections 2024: High-Stakes Clash Between BJP's Jagadish Shettar and Congress's Mrinal Hebbalkar

Belgaum Lok Sabha constituency is one of 28 parliamentary constituencies in Karnataka. This is a General category seat and comprises part of the Belgaum district. As many as eight Assembly segments fall under the Belgaum Lok Sabha constituency, with the BJP currently holding five (Arabhavi, Belgaum Uttar, Belgaum Dakshin, Saundatti Yellamma, Ramdurg) and the Congress three (Gokak, Belgaum Rural, Bailhongal). The constituency, also known as Belagavi, will vote in the third phase of general elections on May 7, 2024.

Sitting MP — Mangala Suresh Angadi (BJP)

Candidates — Jagadish Shettar (BJP), Mrunal Ravindra Hebbalkar (Congress)

Political dynamics

• The BJP has dominated Belgaum constituency since 2004 with the late Suresh Angadi winning on the trot, followed by his wife in the 2021 by polls. This time, the constituency is witnessing a high-stakes clash between two first-time Lok Sabha aspirants. The BJP has opted for experience with Jagadish Shettar barely months after he returned to the party and the Congress is placing its bets on youth with Mrinal Hebbalkar, the son of Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar.
• BJP: Of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, BJP is contesting in 25, and JD(S), which joined the NDA in September last year, in three. The Belgaum seat is part of the BJP kitty.
• The BJP has been facing a dearth of leadership in Belgaum district, especially after the demise of several influential leaders like Umesh Katti, Suresh Angadi and Anand Mamani.
• As speculated following his return to the BJP, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar will contest from Belgaum (Belagavi) constituency. A win, the BJP hopes, would fill its leadership vacuum in the district.
• The 68-year-old is a senior Lingayat leader who hails from the North Karnataka region, which is also known to be one of the strongholds of the BJP.
• Shettar, a six-time MLA who also served as MLC for three months, was made the Karnataka Chief Minister at BS Yeddyurappa’s insistence for 10 months between 2012 and 2013.
• Shettar, a BS Yediyurappa loyalist, was apprehensive about contesting from Belgaum because he does not belong to the Panchamsali sect, a predominant sect of the Lingayats who enjoy influential numbers in the constituency. He reportedly wanted to contest his maiden Lok Sabha election from Dharwad or Haveri, but BSY convinced him not to refuse the Belgaum nomination. Even before the BJP’s official announcement, BSY had declared that Jagadish Shettar would be the party’s Belgaum candidate.
• Shettar comes from an influential political family which was associated with the Jan Sangh. It was Shettar’s uncle Sadashiva Shettar who opened the Jan Sangh’s first account in South India. Later, his father Shivappa Shettar became the Mayor of Hubballi.
• Shettar, The Party Hopper: A staunch RSS man, Jagadish Shettar had quit the BJP to join the Congress ahead of the Karnataka Assembly polls last year after being denied the ticket from Hubballi-Dharwad Central, a seat he had been winning since 2008.
• The Congress gave him a ticket for the 2023 Assembly polls from the same constituency, but despite his long-standing association with the seat, Shettar suffered a defeat, losing by a margin of over 30,000 votes to BJP’s Mahesh Tenginakai.
• Though he had lost the Assembly election, the Congress made him a Member of the Legislative Council.
• In January this year, the former Karnataka CM returned to the BJP citing his long association with the party.
• According to political analyst SA Hemanth, it was a foregone conclusion that Shettar would not last long in the Congress. “Born into a Jan Sangh family and given the fact that he has been anti-Congress, his blood is also anti-Congress. It was unnatural for him to be in that party,” explained Hemanth.
• Angadi Family Factor: The Belgaum seat is currently represented by Mangala Angadi, the wife of the late Suresh Angadi, former Minister of State for Railways.
• She had won with a slender margin of over 5,000 votes in the 2021 by poll against Congress strongman Satish Jarkiholi when the seat fell vacant in 2020 after her husband’s death due to Covid-19.
• Jagadish Shettar also happens to be a relative of the Angadi family. Mangala Angadi’s daughter Shraddha Angadi is married to Shettar’s son Sankalp Shettar, a businessman.
• He was the poll in-charge of this seat when Mangala Angadi fought the by poll.
• Mangala Angadi has welcomed Shettar’s candidature from her current seat, saying she had requested BJP chief JP Nadda a ticket for the family and the party delivered by picking Shettar.
• It is the residence of Mangala Angadi in Vishweshwaraiah Nagar that has turned into the action centre of BJP’s campaign in the constituency.
• However, when Shettar’s candidature was announced, posters had been put up in Kannada by unidentified people, suspected to be BJP cadre, saying Shettar was welcome for lunch “as the in-law of Ms. Shraddha Angadi” but not as a party candidate for the Lok Sabha elections.
• Outsider Tag: Shettar’s candidature from Belgaum was not without controversies since he had been MLA from the Hubli-Dharwad Central seat from 2008 to 2023.
• Within the party, there was said to be considerable discontent over an ‘outsider’ being fielded in the Belgaum seat.
• A section of the local party unit had even resorted to a ‘Go Back Shettar’ campaign to protest his ticket.
• Among the aspirants ignored in Shettar’s favour was BJP leader and former MP Ramesh Katti, also a Lingayat who was said to have the support of Marathi-speaking people in Ramdurg, Saundatti and Bailhongal.
• Insiders say Shettar quickly quelled the rebellion against his candidature, personally reaching out to every leader opposing his ticket and successfully convinced them to root for him.
• During campaigning, too, Shettar has been pushing hard to counter the ‘outsider’ tag, saying Hubbali is his “janmabhoomi” but Belagavi is his “karmabhoomi”.
• Sources say his campaign hopes the familial links to the Angadi family would also help Shettar counter the ‘outsider’ tag.
• Congress: Belgaum election is a matter of prestige for the Congress which wants its revenge on Jagadish Shettar for returning to the BJP barely a year after joining the Congress. The grand old party had given Shettar an MLC position despite the former chief minister losing the Assembly elections.
• The Congress has tasked Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar’s son Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar with the job. Laxmi Hebbalkar is also the Karnataka Women and Child Development Minister.
• The election is a personal quest too for Mrinal since his mother had lost the Belagavi Lok Sabha election in 2014.
• Mrinal says his mother’s electoral defeat in the 2013 Assembly elections, where unparliamentary language was used by Hebbalkar’s arch-rival and now BJP MLA Ramesh Jarakiholi to insult her, fuelled his decision to enter active politics.
• Armed with a degree in civil engineering, Mrinal’s campaign strategy has been to expose the unfulfilled promises made by the BJP parliamentarians who were elected from Belgaum for 25 years while promising to make it a twin city to Bengaluru.
• Youth vs Experience, Son of the Soil vs Outsider: The battle for Belgaum is pitted as one between youth and experience. Mrinal, in his Lok Sabha elections debut, is up against Jagadish Shettar’s political expertise and manoeuvring.
• Mrinal Hebbalkar says his experience as a Youth Congress leader and now as Karnataka State Secretary of the Indian Youth Congress has given him enough exposure and expertise.
• The main component of Mrinal’s election campaign is that he belongs to Belgaum while Shettar is an “outsider”.
• Speaking to News18 earlier this month, Mrinal taunted Shettar, saying the former Hubli-Dharwad Central MLA “may not know or understand Belgaum as a seat”.
• Nepotism/Dynasty Politics Charge: The Congress has faced several allegations of nepotism while handing out tickets for the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka. Mrinal Hebbalkar is among five Congress candidates who are children of state ministers.
• The BJP has been quick to weave the fact into its election narrative, accusing the Congress of indulging in dynasty politics.
• Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar defended the choice of candidates, saying winnability was a key factor in their selection.
• Panchamsali Lingayat Factor: Both BJP and Congress candidates belong to the Lingayat community, which forms close to 17-18% of Karnataka’s voting population and also has a significant say in the formation of governments in the state.
• While the Lingayats are traditionally BJP supporters, the sub-caste of the candidates too is an important decider at the constituency-level.
• Jagadish Shettar belongs to the Banajiga sub-caste among Lingayats, while Mrinal Hebbalkar is a Panchamasali Lingayat leader.
• While Banajiga Lingayats enjoy considerable influence due to their investments and involvement in educational institutions and cooperative societies, Belgaum has a higher number of Panchamasali voters.
• Mrinal’s mother, Belagavi Rural MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar, is said to enjoy the support of Banajigas as well as Panchamsalis.
• Observers, however, predict a 70-30 split in Panchamsali votes in favour of the BJP.
• Maratha Politics and Voting Pattern: With Belgaum falling on the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra, the constituency counts more than 2 lakh Maratha community voters.
• It has also become the political hotspot of the border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka.
• Steering the Maratha community as a voting bloc is the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES). The outfit has invited Manoj Jarange (Patil), who is spearheading the Maratha reservation agitation in Maharashtra, to Belgaum on April 30.
• Marathi-speaking population of Belgaum has traditionally voted for the BJP but not if the MES puts up a strong candidate.
• This time, however, the MES has put up a candidate considered to be weak electorally — Mahadev Patil who will be contesting as an Independent.
• Observers say Marathi voters are likely to side with the BJP over the MES’s Independent candidate.
• With the presence of a large number of Marathi-speaking voters, Belgaum is also a bilingual constituency. Mrinal Hebbalkar says that as a “Belgaumite”, he can tread the linguistic balance in the constituency, adding that the same cannot be said about Shettar.
• Modi Popularity: Political observers say the Modi factor has been predominant in the last few elections in Belgaum and was the reason Suresh Angadi was able to stretch his run in the seat by two more wins in 2014 and 2019.
• Even the bypoll victory of Angadi’s wife Mangala in 2021 is said to be because of the Modi wave in the seat.
• The PM campaigned in the constituency on April 28.
• The Feuding Sahukaras of Belagavi: There are many powerful political families in the Belagavi district, the leaders of which are fondly called ‘sahukaras’. They include the Jarkiholis, Kattis, Hukkeris, Jolles, and now the Hebbalkar family.
• The Jarkiholis hold a strong control over the district with three MLAs and an MLC from the same family. Priyanka Jarkiholi, daughter of Congress minister Satish Jarkiholi, is in the fray from the Chikkodi seat.
• Laxmi Hebbalkar is a cabinet minister and her brother Channaraj Hattiholi is an MLC while her son Mrinal now is contesting the Lok Sabha polls.
• For five years now, there’s been a big feud between Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi and minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.
• It all started during the PLD Bank elections back in 2018. Ramesh Jarkiholi was embroiled in a ‘sex-for-job’ scandal and was forced to quit his ministership.
• In the 2023 Assembly elections, Jarkiholi propped up his candidate, Nagesh Mannolkar, against Hebbalkar in Belagavi Rural, but Hebbalkar won comfortably. Jarkiholis see Mrinal’s election run as a chance to settle scores.

Key constituency issues

• Karnataka-Maharashtra Border Row: The border issue dates back to 1957 when states were reorganised on linguistic lines. Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, as it has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population, and over 800 Marathi-speaking border villages that are currently a part of Karnataka.
• Karnataka maintains that the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission report is final.
• To assert that Belagavi is an integral part of the state, Karnataka built the ‘Suvarna Vidhana Soudha’ there, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the state legislature and secretariat in Bengaluru.
• On October 31 last year, the Belagavi administration had banned three Maharashtra ministers and an MP from entering the border district as they were expected to participate in the “black day” event organised by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) on November 1, the Karnataka formation day.
• MES, which has been fighting for the merger of several Marathi-speaking areas and villages of the state with Maharashtra for long, observes ‘Karnataka Rajyotsava’ as a black day every year.
• Panchamsali 2A Quota Demand: The influential Panchamasali caste has been demanding inclusion in the Category 2A of the reservation list in the state.
• To allay the community, the previous BJP government in the state had decided to create separate categories called 2C and 2D to include the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities, respectively.
• The BJP government had also increased the reservation for Lingayats in 2D category from 5% to 7%, post which the Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swamiji of Panchamasali Peeth ended his two-year old agitation.
• The demand to be included in the 2A category, however, has not been abandoned by the community, though observers say it’s less of a factor in Lok Sabha elections than it was in the Assembly elections last year.
• In March last year, a PIL was filed in the High Court against any move to include the Panchamasalis in the 2A category based on an interim report of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes. The petition stated that since such a request was rejected by the body in 2000 itself, the court was requested to prevent the government from making the inclusion now.
• However, on March 23, 2023, the Karnataka High Court vacated a stay granted based on the PIL on the Panchamasali caste reservation, paving the way for the state government to take a decision on it.
• Lack of Development On Par With Bengaluru: Belgaum is considered to be Karnataka’s second capital but is yet to see the kind of development to match up to a Tier 1 city. Parties and candidates have been promising infrastructure projects for the region, MNCs to create more jobs and the setting up of SEZs, but all has remained on paper.
• Demand to Rename Airport: The Karnataka government is considering demands to name the Belagavi airport after Veera Rani Kittur Chennamma.
• Rani Chennamma (1778–1829), the queen of erstwhile princely state of Kittur in Belagavi district, had fought against the British, and is remembered as a folk hero in Karnataka.
• If the state government wants to rename any airport in the state, a resolution to this effect has to be tabled and passed in both houses of the state legislature, and the proposal sent to the Centre.
• Drought: Belagavi is one of the drought-hit districts in Karnataka. In October last year, the Siddaramaiah government had informed an inter-ministerial central team that the state is facing a “green drought”, and requested that its assessment be made based on factors like crop growth and yield.
• A green drought is generally understood to mean a period when there is limited rainfall due to which there is growth of new plants, but the growth is insubstantial.
• In December, Karnataka Minister for Sugar and Agriculture Marketing Shivanand Patil’s statement that farmers wish for repeated droughts in the state so that their loans get waived had caused a stir. He had made the offending remark in Belagavi.
• Water crisis: The district is also staring at shortage of water with depleted water levels in both Hidkal Dam and Renuka Sagar reservoirs due to the drought.
• In response, local authorities have reportedly changed water supply from once every 3–4 days to once a week.
• Woman Stripping Case: One of the first challenges faced by the Congress government after coming to power in Karnataka last year was the case of a 55-year-old Dalit woman being stripped and beaten, paraded naked and tied to an electric pole in a village in Balagavi district, after her son eloped with a girl who was to get engaged with someone else. The incident, which unfolded in December in New Vantamuri village, had become a political flashpoint between the Congress and BJP.
• The BJP contended in the Assembly that such incidents had not taken place when the saffron party was in power in Karnataka, and accused the Congress government of being soft on crimes against women and Dalits.
• The Congress had in turn lashed out at the BJP for politicising the incident and assured strict action against the perpetrators.
• On April 25, 2024, the Karnataka High Court directed the trial court to complete the proceedings within a year.
• The Karnataka government told the HC that the victim was given a two-acre piece of land and Rs 5 lakh as compensation.

Voter demographics

Social composition

SC — 12.1%

ST — 6.2%

Religious composition

Buddhist — 0.02%

Christian — 0.39%

Jain — 3.73%

Muslim — 11.06%

Sikh — 0.04%

Literacy rate

63.85%

Major infra projects in Belgaum

• Four-laning of NH748A: The Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry has sanctioned Rs 2,675.31 crore for the four-laning of the Belgaum-Hungund-Raichur section of National Highway-748A in Bagalkot and Belgavi districts of Karnataka on the hybrid annuity basis.
• The initiative spans a total length of 92.40 km and is an integral part of the Panaji-Hyderabad EC10 corridor.
• EC10 connects pivotal industrial hubs, including Panaji, celebrated for fishing, and tourism; Belgavi renowned for food grains, and milk products; Raichur, recognised for rice, cotton, groundnut, and pulses; and Hyderabad, distinguished for IT, pharma, and healthcare.
• Flyover Project: The project to construct a 4.5km flyover to reduce traffic congestion in Belagavi city finally kicked off in January this year.
• The pet project of Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi will come up between Pune-Bengaluru NH48 and Channamma Circle. It will pass through Ashok Circle and RTO Circle.
• The project is estimated to cost Rs 350 crore.
• Belagavi Railway Station: On February 27 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the Belagavi Railway station building, which has been redeveloped at an approximate cost of about Rs 190 crore to provide world-class amenities to the passengers.
• Rail Line Doubling Project: PM Modi had also launched the rail line doubling project between Londa-Belagavi worth Rs 930 crore.
• The project will enhance line capacity along the busy Mumbai-Pune-Hubballi-Bengaluru railway line, leading to promotion of trade, commerce and economic activities in the region.
• Vande Bharat: In February this year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw gave in-principal approval for the much-awaited Belagavi-Pune Vande Bharat Express.
• The service is likely to be launched once the ongoing electrification work on the track is completed which may take a year.
• In March, the Vande Bharat train connecting Bengaluru and Dharwad was extended to Belagavi. The train takes 7 hours and 45 minutes from Bengaluru to Belagavi, which is more than two hours faster than the earlier fastest train.
• Railway Overpass: As per local reports, a railway overpass is being planned at the bypass road of Hudali village, replacing the existing manual railway gate. The project is estimated to cost Rs 2.35 crore.
• Lake augmentation: The Siddaramaiah government in February this year greenlighted the filling up of 20 tanks in Uchagaon and Santibastavad Hoblis of Belagavi Taluk of Belagavi district. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 287.55 crore.
• Similarly, 61 lakes in Hirebagewadi in Belagavi district are to be augmented at an estimated cost of Rs 519.10 crore, excluding GST of Rs 106.5 crore.
• Stadium: A well-equipped district stadium is also in the works in Belagavi at an estimated cost of Rs 60 crore. Reports say the initial phase of the project, costing Rs 10 crore, was to commence in 2023-24, with subsequent phases to be completed in the following years.

Check Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 3 Schedule, Key Candidates And Constituencies At News18 Website.