Belagavi North: Little to separate BJP, Congress

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Belagavi: Belagavi North constituency is all set witness a fierce neck and neck battle between Congress and BJP candidates on Wednesday.

The Grand Old Party has fielded former MLA Fairoz Sait’s brother Asif “Raju” Sait who come from a family of logistics barons while the saffron party is banking on Ravi Patil, a medical doctor by profession and a fresh Lingayat face.

Interestingly, the segment’s sitting MLA from BJP Anil Benake was one of the scores of lawmakers who didn’t get the ticket this time around reportedly because they performed poorly in BJP national general secretary BL Santosh’s surveys.

The saffron party had adopted a similar strategy to tide over anti-incumbency in Gujarat with a massive majority to show for it. The constituency is a diverse one with unofficial estimates saying Muslims and Lingayats make up 28 per cent a piece in the segment. Marathas are the third largest block making up nearly 22 per cent of the segment.

Happy to see sitting MLA go?

“Traditional” BJP voters were of the opinion that replacing Benake was the right call since they found him to be inaccessible, adding that issues such as poor roads, unrepaired streets that had been dug up due to underground pipes, unlit streetlights, among other issues still plagued the segment. Vaibhav, who lives in Mahantesh Nagar, conceded that it looked like a close fight between Sait and Patil.

“Our main issue is the dug up roads just lying there damaged. They should be covered up at the earliest. Instead they make life difficult for motorists. Streetlights are also not functional near our house,” he said. His friends Ganesha and Ravi agree that Benake had to go, adding that a medical doctor in Patil might prove to be a competent MLA.

Saifullah (name changed), who hails from Ujwal Nagar, said that he wasn’t happy with the sitting MLA’s work, adding that philanthropy on part of the Sait brothers might pay dividends. “Fairoz and Raju Sait helped poor people with their basic needs during the Covid-induced lockdown. They don’t look at caste and religion. They help everyone,” he said. “We get drinking water only once a week during the summer. That is an issue,” he added.