Bagalkot is the only district in North Karnataka to be associated with five Chief Ministers of the State. The Bagalkot constituency in the district is among the two going for byelections on April 9.
Voters of the district are credited with giving political lifetline to two former Chief Ministers when they were in a tough spot. The late S. Nijalingappa and the incumbent Siddaramaiah left their native districts seeking safe seats here. Nijalingappa represented Bagalkot in the 1962 byelections and Mr. Siddaramaiah won from Badami in 2018.
Congress strategists reasoned that the Badami seat, held by Kuruba community leader B.B. Chimmankatti was a safe seat for Mr. Siddaramaiah owing to the significant Kuruba population in the taluk. Mr. Siddaramaiah who was said to be facing anti-incumbency in Mysuru district revived his political prospects in Badami. He returned to his seat of Varuna after five years.
Former Chief Minister B.D. Jatti was elected from Jamkhandi in 1958 and S.R. Kanthi, who held office for three months, was elected from Hungund in 1962. Ramakrishna Hegde, a native of Siddapura in Uttara Kannada district, sought to enter Parliament through the Bagalkot Lok Sabha seat, but lost to Siddu Nyamagouda of the Congress in 1991. The former Chief Minister later entered the Rajya Sabha and became a Union Minister.
