Vijayapura: Is Vijugouda Patil, the BJP leader and traditional rival of Congress MLA, M. B. Patil not going to get a chance to fight against the latter this time on a BJP ticket from Babaleshwar Constituency?
If the BJP sources are to be believed, the party is seriously contemplating to field Former ZP President, Umesh Kolkur from Babaleshwar in place of Vijugouda Patil.
Vijougouda who unsuccessfully contested against M. B. Patil in the last three successive elections, may not get a ticket again in this election to take on his bête noire and traditional rival M. B. Patil.
According to the sources, even the RSS is backing Kolkur who was once with the Congress and later quit the party over his differences with M. B. Patil.
Kolkur was a member of Sarwad ZP which is part of Babaleshwara Constituency.
The sources said that this time, it wants to offer a ticket to some other aspirant and Kolkur is the front runner.
Though Vijugouda is reportedly making efforts to get a ticket again despite the fact that he has lost against Patil thrice in the past, the party is said to be in no mood to offer ticket to him again as the High Command wants a fresh face to fight against Patil.
“ Vijugouda is no doubt a strong candidate, but the party thinks that after losing elections against Patil successively in three polls, now it is time to replace the candidate.
Though the party is looking for a strong candidate to take on M. B. Patil, but the party leaders think that after losing three elections, Vijugouda has lost the confidence of the people,” said one of the party’s functionaries.
He however admitted that Kolkur too may not prove to be a strong candidate to fight against Patil who has risen to become KPCC Campaign Committee Chairman and gained strong control over Babaleshwar Constituency. However the party wishes to groom a new leader in Babaleshwar.
While the party functionaries believe that Vijugouda may not get a chance again, another section believe that since the party has no better candidate than Vijugouda to take on Patil, at the last moment, the party may consider giving one more chance to Vijugouda.
The sources said that the party High Command is preparing a list of candidates and shortly, the picture will be cleared whether Vijugouda will get the chance to take on his traditional rival or Kolkur will be the next face against Patil.
