Satish Jarkiholi alleges BJP MLA harassed Dalit officer

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Belagavi: A fresh controversy has broken out in Belagavi and once again Minister for Public Works and district-incharge Satish Jarkiholi has taken centre stage in it.

Satish, alongside Belagavi North MLA Asif Sait and city corporators have alleged that BJ P MLA from Belagavi South Abhay Patil had been harassing Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) Commissioner Ashok Dudgunti for merely being Dalit.

The Congress camp claims that a Counci l meeting had taken place last Saturday wherein it was decided that letters would be written against Dudgunti and submitted to Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) and Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) complaining against the BCC Commissioner.

Jarkiholi, Sait and corporators associated with the Congress alleged that Patil had taken a lead in pursuing action against the officer, whom they claimed was only guilty of a clerical error.

The BJP camp led by Patil on the other hand al leged that Dudg unti was guilty of wrongdoings with respect to property tax papers. It is to be noted that the corporators associated with the BJP are currently in control of the local government.

Congress has already staged protests against Patil in the BCC premises and plans to take out more demonstrations.

Attempt to topple local govt: Mayor

The saffron party led by Patil and city mayor Shobha Somanache has charged that the Congress is trying to generate a controversy in an attempt to supersede the BCC.

Somanache even wrote to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot alleging the same, adding that interference by Satish had ensured that they couldn’t run the local government in an efficient manner.

Moreover, allegations of harassment of Dalit officials are being met by similar claims that Jarkiholi and co are going after Marathas. Former chairman of Belagavi Urban Development Authority (BUDA) Sanjay Belgaumkar alleged that Satish had been harassing Somanache since she was a Maratha, adding that he was also being targeted with scam cases because he belonged to the linguistic minority.

Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) leader Ramakant Konduskar who finished second in the Belagavi South Assembly seat battle against Abhay Patil back in May, similarly accused Satish Jarkiholi of targeting fellow Marathas.

However, Konduskar also alleged that Patil was harassing BCC officials.

Not against Marathas: Jarkiholi

Unperturbed by the allegations, Jarkiholi said that it wasn’t his intention to harass any community member, adding that it was a political battle between Congress and BJP and not an intercommunity battle.

“The majority of the people Abhay Patil targeted with cases are Marathas,” Satish said.

Jarkiholi is also pushing for an inquiry into allegedly illegal recruitment of sanitation workers without the same being approved by the BCC Commisioner Ashok Dudgunti, adding that the wages of the workers were due since December last year.

Satish is also locked in a battle with his Cabinet colleague and Minister for Women and Child Development Laxmi Hebbalkar. Jarkiholi wants a Lok Sabha ticket from the Belagavi seat for his son while Hebbalkar wants the same for her son.