Balachandra Jarkiholi a liquor baron turned sugar baron from Gokak was a minister in H D Kumar Swamy’s cabinet. He is now the minister in Yaddyurappa cabinet also and is seeking election from Arabhavi in Gokak taluk. He has Vivekrao Patil of Congress and Aravind Dalawai of JD(S) as his opponents.
Jarkiholi pins his hopes on his stronghold on the Ghataprabha sugar factory and through it on the electorate. Aravind Dalwai who resigned in his job in the commercial tax department to join politics is trying to make a dent into Jarkiholi’s bastion. Meanwhile will the attempt by the Patil clan of Raibag to conquer the Arabhavi assembly seat succeed? This is the question intriguing the electorate in the constituency.
Former minister Vasantrao L Patil popularly known as VL once enjoyed tremendous clout in the district and he held several important portfolios. Hailing from Raibag Patils also have good grip over Kurubas in the district. Hoping to extend the family’s stronghold over other constituencies in the district, Patils have been trying to conquer Arabhavi since 1978 but so far their struggle has been in vain. Changing of parties has not helped them either.
Arabhavi which has a total of 1.71 lakh voters has sizeable number of Kurubas among them. Patils have every time pinned their hopes on Kuruba votes but the lady luck has not smiled on them.
First it was Vasantrao Patil who as Congress (O) candidate contested from Arabhavi only to be defeated by Congress (I) nominee V S Koujalagi by a margin of 17,498 votes. Then in 1989 Vasantrao’s daughter Pratibha Patil tried her hand by contesting as an independent only to lose to Koujalgi by a margin of 14,033 votes. Not to be deterred Pratibha took on Koujalgi of Congress again in 1994 this time as Janata Dal candidate only to be floored. Her donning Janata Dal tag instead of helping her win proved to be counter productive and the margin of defeat increased to 18180 votes.
Pratibha did not give up hopes and was in the fray again in 1999 as an independent. Congress fielded Koujalgi again who emerged victorious this time pushing Pratibha to third place and increasing his margin against her by 41,137 votes.
Four defeats, three in a row made the Patils keep off this constituency in 2004 elections which was eventually won by Balachandra Jarkiholi of JD(S). V L Patil’s son Vivekrao Patil was back with a bang in the fray in 2008 with a BJP ticket while V S Koujalgi was again the Congress candidate. Koujalgi after two hat-trick wins lost this election and Vivekrao also had to suffer defeat at the hands of Jarkiholi.
Thanks to Operation Lotus, Jarkiholi quit JD(S) to contest the by-election as BJP candidate now. Vivekrao Patil is again in the fray as Congress candidate. He has another rival in Aravind Dalawai of JD(S).
Both Patil and Dalawai belong to Kuruba community and a division of Kuruba votes will benefit the third candidate. In that event over 50,000 Lingayat voters will play a decisive role.
Will Patil’s sixth attempt prove lucky for the family? We will get the answer on December 30 when the counting of votes takes place.
