With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announcing incumbent Member of Parliament Raja Amareshwar Naik as its candidate for Raichur parliamentary constituency, the followers of the former MP B.V. Naik have now openly expressed dissatisfaction against the party high command’s decision to not consider their leader for candidature.
The Raichur (reserved for Scheduled Tribes) parliamentary constituency includes three Assembly constituencies, Yadgir, Shahapur, and Shorapur in Yadgir district, apart from five in Raichur district, Raichur Urban, Raichur Rural, Manvi, Lingsugur and Deodurg.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, out of the eight constituencies, the Congress won Yadgir, Shahapur, Shorapur, Raichur Rural and Manvi, while the BJP won Raichur Urban and Lingsugur and the Janata Dal(S) won Deodurg.
In the 2019 parliamentary elections, Raja Amareshwar Naik won against B.V. Naik, who was then in the Congress, by a margin of 1,17,716 votes. After a political development, B.V. Naik joined the BJP, obtained party ticket in Manvi in 2023 and lost to the Congress’ Hampayya Naik by a margin of 7,719 votes.
B.V. Naik was among the key aspirants for Raichur ticket and also lobbied hard this time. His followers too anticipated him being fielded from the constituency. However, the high command announced Raja Amareshwar Naik as party candidate again. But the decision taken by the party high command has caused huge dissatisfaction among the followers of B.V. Naik.
“He (Raja Amareshwar Naik) has not done work as expected in his five-year term as MP. Therefore, we all demanded ticket for B.V. Naik, who has a vote base in the constituency as he served as MP in 2014,” one of B.V. Naik’s follower said.
B.V. Naik’s supporters also said that voters may have blessed B.V. Naik on sympathy basis as he suffered defeat by a thin margin in the 2023 Assembly elections in Manvi (ST Reserved) Assembly constituency.
Meanwhile, B.V. Naik has called a meeting of his followers and well-wishers on Wednesday. It is said that he will collect opinion to decide his next course of action.
The coming days will decide how the BJP high command and leaders have relieved the dissatisfaction of B.V. Naik and his supporters to prevent a possible vote damage for the party candidate Raja Amareshwar Naik.
The Congress has already declared the former IAS officer G. Kumar Naik as its candidate in the constituency.
