Malingaraya Pujar
CH NEWS
Although assembly elections remain over a year away, political activity has surged across the high-voltage Shirahatti reserved constituency in Gadag district, with ticket aspirants aggressively campaigning during festival gatherings, public celebrations, and family functions.
Aspirants are plastering banners and hoardings across rural hubs to maximize visibility. Several candidates arriving from outside districts have adopted emotional outreach strategies, citing ancestral links, childhood memories, or distant relations to connect with local voters. Uninvited appearances at private weddings, naming ceremonies, funerals, and temple pujas to pose for photographs have sparked amusement and lively debates among villagers, who view these sudden visits as performative attempts to establish local relevance.
Within the Bharatiya Janata Party, the queue of ticket aspirants is swelling despite sitting MLA Dr. Chandru Lamani’s incumbency. With the sitting legislator embroiled in legal scrutiny before the Lokayukta, speculation regarding an internal leadership shift has intensified. Prominent aspirants, including I.S. Pujara, Muthu Rathod, Bhimasinga Rathod, and Prakash Hosamani, are touring villages to stake their claims, sharpening the rivalry between veteran party workers and political migrants.
The opposition Congress camp faces equally intense ticket competition. The 2023 elections saw former MLA Ramakrishna Doddamani contest as an independent after being denied a ticket, finishing second ahead of the official Congress candidate, which split the vote and allowed the BJP to secure victory. Doddamani, alongside former MLA Ramanna Lamani, Sujatha Doddamani, and multiple local leaders, is actively maneuvering for high command support.
Concurrently, influential dominant community leaders across Shirahatti, Lakshmeshwar, and Mundaragi are leveraging social equations to back favored contenders, while prominent farmer leader B.T. Chandrashekar is emerging as a strong competitor. This premature campaign blitz has set the stage for complex socio-political realignments ahead of the polls.