Winning chances more for Shettar in Hubli-Dharwad Central

Hubli: Hubli-Dharwad Central Assembly Constituency has drawn the attention of nation in this election. The ruling BJP is betting on defeating Shettar, while the Congress and Jagadish Shettar have taken it as their prestige. Jagdish Shettar from the Congress, Mahesh Tenginakai from the BJP and Siddalingeshwar Gowda Mahanta Wodeyar from the JDS are the candidates for the Hubli-Dharwad Central constituency. Direct fight in elections is between BJP and Congress. But, here Congress is only a pretext. Direct contest is only between Jagdish Shettar and Bharatiya Janata Party.

This is the seventh election for Jagdish Shettar who has won 6 elections from 1994 to 2018 in the constituency. However, it should be noted that he is not a BJP candidate this time. When BJP denied ticket to Jagdish Shettar , he burst out. He expressed his anger openly against party leaders. Now the Hubli-Dharwad Central Constituency is divided into two parts.

A section of Bharatiya Janata Party's philosophy and ideology are people who believe in it. Another section is supporting Shettar. The loyalists to BJP says that the party given all opportunity to Jagdish Shettar. However, the fact that despite national leaders came to his home , requested to stay away from fray he defied their words and joined Congress.

Another group is personally supporting Jagdish Shettar. This group is supporting him without party feelings admires his simplicity who was always accessible to people , believing in the work he has done. Also, there is a group that sympathizes that the BJP leaders did not do such injustice by not giving tickets to senior leaders like Shettar.

Young voters are inclined towards Mahesh Tenginakai. Young voters feel that Mahesh Tenginakai, who is a good orator and a friendly person, should be given a chance. But some have objected to the way BJP has treated senior Jagdish Shettar. They are arguing that it was wrong to deny tickets to Jagdish Shettar without any reason. This has raised a wave of sympathy for Jagdish Shettar, and it has become an even fight between BJP and Congress.

Jagdish Shettar may have left the BJP and entered the fray as a Congress candidate. But, everyone's guess is Jagdish Shettar vs. BJP here. National leaders have instructed that Jagdish Shettar should be defeated. Senior BJP leaders like BL Santosh, Nalin Kumar Kateel, Basavaraja Bommai, BS Yeddyurappa, Prahlad Joshi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda conducted election campaign in constituency with sole aim to defeat Shettar. That is why personal prestige is also hidden in the election results.

An estimated 2,42,736 voters are in the constituency. About 70,000 Lingayat votes are there including various sects. There are approximately 40,000 Muslim votes. SC-ST 35,000, Brahmins 26,000, Jagdish Shettar's personal charisma votes, Muslim votes supporting Congress and majority of Lingayats supporting Shettar will make Jagdish Shettar victory easy.

From 1999 to 2018, no Congress candidate has won against Jagdish Shettar. He won by 25,000, 26,000, 17,000 and 21,000 votes in last elections. Whether Shettar's personal charisma or the BJP Sangh Parivar is the reason for this victory will be answered by time. But Mahesh Tenginakai, who has gained fame as a new face in the constituency and an organizational genius, is personally giving a tough fight to Jagdish Shettar. The staunch BJP workers have supported the BJP. But victory is not easy for anyone.