Speculations are rife in the political circles about possible candidates from both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Raichur (ST reserved) parliamentary constituency.
Raichur parliamentary constituency comprises of eight Assembly constituencies namely, Raichur Urban, Raichur Rural, Deodurga, Manvi, and Lingasugur in Raichur district and Yadgir, Shahapur, and Shorapur Assembly constituencies in Yadgir district.
In the last Assembly elections, Congress won in Raichur Rural, Manvi, Yadgir, Shahapur and Shorapur and the BJP won in Raichur Urban and Lingsugur, while JD(S) won in Deodurga. However, because of the demise of Congress MLA Raja Venkatappa Naik, Shorapur Assembly constituency is facing a byelection.
Raichur has been a Congress forte for long with its candidates winning won 13 times out of 17 elections between 1957 and 2019. BJP has won two times, while Janata Dal and Swatantra Party won one time each.
In 2019, Raja Amareshwar Naik from BJP won for the first time and is confident of getting ticket for the second time. While B.V. Naik, K. Shivanagowda Naik, Tipparaju Hawaldar and Raja Hanumappa Naik (tata) are too are in the race for BJP ticket, Mr. B.V. Naik seems to be a strong contender.
From the Congress, Basanagowda Daddal, Ravi Patil, Kumar Naik, Raja Krishnappa Naik, Raja Kumar Naik and Dr. Raja Venkatappa Naik are in the race.
Earlier, Narasimha Naik, former Minister, who suffered defeat in Shorapur Assembly constituency, was the key aspirant from BJP while Congress high command was in favour of fielding Shorapur MLA Raja Vankatappa Naik. But his sudden sudden demise has changed the equations as Mr. Narasimha Naik is focusing on the byelection. Raja Venugopal Naik, son of the late Raja Venkatappa Naik, is likely to be the Congress candidate.
