Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, Vijayapura MP, who is among the senior Dalit leaders in the BJP, has indicated that he may not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The six-time MP and three-time minister in the State Cabinet told a party meeting in Vijayapura that he would contest only if he is nominated by the BJP. “Or else, I will support the candidate chosen by the party. I do not know who it is yet,” he said. “I have worked for the welfare of my people for five decades. I am content. I do not have any other political ambition. If I am not the candidate, I will remain a common party worker,” he said.
The 72-year-leader also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had released over ₹1 lakh crore in development funds to Vijayapura district in 10 years. The former Union Minister gave no further details.
Party sources maintain that Mr. Jigajinagi knows that he is not likely to be fielded again. He also knows who the likely candidate is, they say. According to a former MLC who is a member of the election committee, “The BJP high command is considering fielding former Deputy CM Govind Mukhtappa Karjol, who is a distant relative of Mr Jigajinagi. The MP is aware of this development.”
Mr Karjol was an employee of the Public Works Department in Karnataka. Mr Jigajinagi was instrumental in inducting him into politics when the Janata Dal was looking for a candidate in 1994. Mr. Karjol quit his government job, contested the election, and won. In 2023, he lost his Mudhol Assembly seat to Ramappa Balappa Thimmapur.
Both Mr. Jigajinagi and Mr. Karjol are leaders of the left-hand faction among the Scheduled Castes. Some BJP leaders credit Mr. Jigajinagi’s entry into the BJP for the apparent shift of the left-hand community towards the BJP in the last two decades.
There are rumours that Ramesh Jigajinagi is suffering from a debilitating disease. His son Vinod told reporters in Vijayapura recently that the MP underwent surgery to remove a clot in his brain.
Ramesh Jigajinagi dismisses health as the reason for bowing out. “Though. I have undergone surgery, I have recovered fully,” he told reporters in Vijayapura on March 12. He arrived in Vijayapura after a visit to Saundatti on Marc h 11.
“I am thankful to the family deity Goddess Saundatti Yallamma for saving me from death three times in the past. A few months ago, I suffered discomfort in Bengaluru airport. I was rushed to a hospital past midnight. But I recovered. In January, I suffered excruciating head aches while travelling in Bagalkot. After a scan in a hospital in Vijayapura, I underwent treatment, but faced problems again. I am completely cured after the surgery in Belagavi,” he said.
Political career of Ramesh Jigajinagi
Mr. Jigajinagi was among the closest confidantes of former chief minister and Janata Party stalwart Ramakrishna Hegde. Mr. Jigajinagi served as a minister in his cabinet. He followed Mr. Hegde into the Nava Nirmana Vedike and Lok Shakti before joining the BJP in 2004. He was among the few elected representatives from Lok Shakti in 1998. He won the Chikkodi Lok Sabha seat in 1996 as a candidate of the Lok Shakti, in 1998 on a Janata Dal ticket, and in 2004 as a candidate of the BJP. When the delimitation commission recommended that Chikkodi be unreserved, Mr. Jigajinagi returned to his native district of Vijayapura, that got reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Hailing from Atarga in Vijayapura district, he completed BA from New Arts College in Vijayapura. He has won all the elections since 1983, except the Assembly election in 1989. He served as a minister in the Union and State Cabinets. He has been a member of several parliamentary standing committees.
His sons Vinod and Anand are industrialists who run a successful winery in Bhootanal village. They produce French variety of wines, including Rose wine, Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Shiraz, and Sauvignon Blanc.
“I was born to a very poor landless labourer. But I have become a crorepati due to the hard work of my sons,” he said in response to a recent Association of Democratic Reforms report that listed the MPs with the highest rise in assets declared.
