Why the spotlight is on the feuding Jarkiholi brothers ahead of the Karnataka bye-polls

Politics

Known as the sugar barons of Belagavi, the four Jarkiholi brothers always contest from different political parties – and at least one of them has always been at the helm of power.

Theja Ram

Bye-polls are slated to be held in Karnataka on December 5 in 15 constituencies, and both the Congress and BJP are gearing up for a tough battle. This time, the spotlight is on Belagavi, the district where the rebellion arose, which culminated in 17 legislators from across the state resigning to bring down the Congress-JD(S) coalition in July.  Rumblings of dissent arose in the Belagavi Congress in October 2018 when former legislator and strongman from Gokak, Ramesh Jarkiholi, openly expressed his displeasure with the coalition government. Ramesh Jarkiholi is believed to have convinced two other leaders from Belagavi district – Mahesh Kumatahalli from Athani and Srimanth Patil from Kagwad – to also resign. With bye-polls slated to be held in a month, Ramesh Jarkiholi is likely to join the BJP and contest from Gokak. The Congress is now mulling over pitting Lakhan Jarkiholi, Ramesh’s younger brother, as its candidate from Gokak. The recent floods that ravaged most of Gokak has resulted in immense anti-incumbency for Ramesh. Snatching up the opportunity to undermine Ramesh, his brother Satish Jarkiholi threw his weight behind Lakhan and began speaking against Ramesh during his visit to the flood-affected areas in Gokak constituency since August this year. Ever since, both Satish and Lakhan Jarkiholi have become everyday figures in the politics of Gokak, constantly reminding the electorate in their daily campaigns that Ramesh Jarkiholi was holed up in a star hotel in Mumbai while his constituents needed his support. When the coalition collapsed, the decades-old feud between Ramesh and his brother Satish surfaced once again. Satish had vowed to pit Lakhan from Gokak against Ramesh “to teach him a befitting lesson.” Known as the sugar barons of Belagavi, the Jarkiholi brothers – Ramesh, Satish, Balachandra and Lakhan – all have political ambitions. The brothers always contest from different political parties and no matter which party is in power, one of the Jarkiholis has always been at the helm of power either as the head of a state-run corporation or as a minister. While Satish and Lakhan are with the Congress, Balachandra is with the BJP. Ramesh, who was with the Congress and once a close associate of Siddaramaiah, is now set to join BJP after the Supreme Court decides on the issue of disqualification, sources say. Prior to the bye-polls, three of the Jarkiholi brothers – Ramesh, Satish and Balachandra – had picked three different segments in Belagavi, which they turned into their fiefdoms. The brothers had promised each other that they would not interfere in the goings-on in the others’ constituencies. Hence, Ramesh Jarkiholi made Gokak his stronghold. Balachandra would control Arabhavi and Satish Jarkiholi made Yemkanmardi his fortress. This agreement, however, did not stop the brothers from fighting amongst themselves. Between 2013 and 2018 Assembly elections in Karnataka, the brothers – especially Ramesh and Satish – fought over interference in matters related to each other’s constituency. In 2018, Satish accused Ramesh of trying to pit local Congress leaders against him in order to ensure his defeat from Yemkanmardi. This time around, the feud has taken a new turn with Satish taking up the initiative of launching Lakhan’s political debut – all with the intention of defeating Ramesh. “Ramesh Jarkiholi is in a lot of debt. The BJP had promised to help him clear off his loans in exchange for resigning and help bringing down the coalition government. Now, Ramesh Jarkihoki will need more money to spend for the election campaign. Satish and Lakhan have been campaigning in Gokak for two months already and Ramesh Jarkiholi has not even started because of financial difficulties. The anti-incumbency and the lack of funds is a problem for Ramesh but may give Lakhan the edge,” the Congress source added. BJP insiders say that the party leaders had promised Ramesh a ticket to contest the bye-polls if he resigns. This has not gone well with local BJP leaders, who are threatening to defect or contest as independents. The rebellion in the BJP’s Belagavi unit has also put the chances of two other disqualified MLAs from the district – Mahesh Kumatahalli and Srimanth Patil – at risk. The BJP is planning to offer the Athani ticket to Laxman Savadi, the current Deputy CM, who was caught watching porn in the Assembly in 2012. This has made the rebels wary of the BJP’s promise to offer them tickets. In Kagwad, Raju Kage, the BJP leader who had contested and lost to Srimanth Patil, has openly threatened to join another party or contest as an independent if the BJP does not offer him a ticket. “The rebellion in the Belagavi unit (BJP) has made the task of picking candidates difficult. There is apprehension among national leaders that offering tickets to disqualified MLAs would increase the chances of BJP losing. Now those who resigned and were promised tickets are also scared of being wiped out of the political scenario. The high command will decide the candidate list after Supreme Court issues an order in the matter,” the BJP source said.   

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The fight to protect Bengaluru's precious Cubbon park and it's heritage

Environment/Urban Infrastructure

It is not just about lung space, it is also about the missing ‘heritage law’ to preserve the city’s vanishing old structures.

Soumya Chatterjee

“The issue of Cubbon Park is emotive and non-negotiable. Allowing the seven-storey structure will set a bad precedent,” says Priya Chetty-Rajagopal, one of the founders of Heritage Beku, a citizens’ initiative to preserve Bengaluru’s heritage. Priya is one of the many citizens in the city who are gravely disappointed by the recent Karnataka High Court order allowing the demolition of a pre-19th-century heritage building inside Cubbon Park, to make way for a seven-storey annexe building for the High Court. An online petition by Heritage Beku seeking the reversal of the order has got more than 13,000 signatures; around 500 citizens turned up to protest against the demolition order on Sunday. The collective anger is based on two prime reasons: although the government has said no trees should be cut for the construction of the new building, activists question its practicality. Secondly, residents are miffed by the scant regard to preserve the vanishing heritage of Bengaluru. A threat to Bengaluru’s green space “Cubbon Park is an essential part of the city’s identity,” says Priya, who started the online petition and is organising a series of activities (including Sunday’s protest) on the issue. “The park has already reduced in size due to several sports and recreational clubs inside the park. If this continues, our posterity will identify Cubbon Park as a single tree looking over the statue of Cubbon.” Incidentally, the HC had also denied permission to construct a swimming pool inside the park in May. Citizen-activists are likely to contest the judgement based on multiple legal technicalities, including a blanket ban on further construction in the park. Umesh Kumar, an advocate and president of the Cubbon Park Walkers Association, says, “Even if no tree is cut, there will be at least an additional 200 cars coming into the park if the building is constructed. Where will all these cars be parked?” To put a number on the loss of green cover, a 2015 study by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) found that the green cover in the city is likely to reduce to as low as 2.96% in 2020 compared to 38.7% green cover in 2002. In 1973, the tree cover was 68.2% in Bengaluru, which was also known as the ‘Garden City’ due to the extensive green space. Even while the issue was in court, citizens had pinned their hopes on the Revised Master Plan 2031, which proposed provisions for the conservation of heritage buildings. Noting how successive governments continued to neglect the issue, Priya says, “As part of the citizen feedback, we had sent the Bengaluru Development Authority a 50-page supplementary set of inputs on structure and functioning of a heritage body, along with a list of heritage structures in the city. There was no response. Now, the Revised Master Plan is further delayed as it is under legal scrutiny due to some other issue.” Read: Bengaluru’s heritage Russell Market may face the axe for Smart City plan Lack of concern from authorities Incidentally, the Bangalore Urban Arts Commission, which was functioning under the Urban Development Department, was unceremoniously disbanded in 2002, leaving no public authority to protect the city’s heritage structures. Over the years, many private heritage structures have vanished and those owned by the government kept crumbling. Arun Prasad, an activist, says that there is clear neglect by officials in maintaining old buildings. “There is little chance of kickbacks when maintenance work is issued to a contractor. They, however, wait for the building to develop cracks, then declare it ‘unsafe for use’ and clear it for demolition,” he says, citing Janatha Bazaar, the 100-year-old Krumbigal Hall in Lalbagh, Attara Kacheri (Karnataka High Court) and the University Union Building as some examples. Read: ‘We are gutted’: Bengaluru’s heritage enthusiasts upset as colonial-era house razed A ‘heritage law’ is long overdue Experts and activists agree that heritage conservation can be empowered with a state-wide law, which is missing in Karnataka. Other than the sites under the Archaeological Survey of India, there are no legal provisions to protect heritage structures. “Ideally, there should be a heritage law to preserve at least those buildings that are owned and maintained by the government,” says Yashawani Sharma, urban historian and architect. “Bengaluru has a lot of heritage in terms of buildings but also there is a lot of tangible heritage in the form of inscription stones, statues, other heritage structures and natural heritage structures like parks and tanks. With the disappearance of these buildings, we have lost the vision of our old leaders. For example, we used to have a tradition of rainwater harvesting system but those have been all lost as these structures also vanished,” she says, while pointing to the system followed in Mysuru. “Mysuru has a Heritage Committee, which was formed by a Gazette notification in 2004. This dedicated committee has been able to do a fine job in restoring the city’s old charm,” she says. The committee has seven non-official members in addition to the official members from the Mysuru City Corporation and the Mysuru Urban Development Authority, among others. Elucidating further, professor NS Rangaraju, an acclaimed historian who is part of the Heritage Committee, says, “We attend bi-monthly meetings chaired by the District Collector and consider issues that we notice or come to us through the public. Once notified, the authorities are assigned to restore and maintain the structures. Other than buildings, we have also been able to preserve 80 to 100-year-old trees, water tanks and even private structures.” A city with no identity? Suresh Moona, another noted historian, says Bengaluru’s changing cityscape in the next decade or two will mean that it will no longer be different from any other city. He describes how Bengaluru had a lot of trees and buildings with large windows, but with the real estate boom, we are no longer concerned about the identity or beauty of the city. “The very culture of the city has been eroding since the 2000s. This was not the case when erstwhile leaders were ruling the nation. They were very particular about buildings that were coherent with the city’s culture. That’s why regions like Basavangudi, Cantonment and Chamrajpet still have their quaint charm intact,” he says. Read: Heritage Beku: Activists upset as HC paves way for demolishing building in Cubbon Park

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5 ways opponents are going after Warren’s 'Medicare for All' plan

Warren's plan generated questions about taxation, fairness and practicality that she is certain to face in the next Democratic debate.

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Abortion could decide Kentucky’s close governor’s race

Some Democratic strategists worry that Beshear’s support for abortion rights could alienate swing voters even if they're not fond of Bevin.

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PG student attacked by pro-Kannada group: Doctors protest in B'luru hospital continues

Protest

Despite the fact that a complaint was given on Friday night to the VV Puram police station, no arrests have been made.

Dr Nimeshika Jayachandran

Chants of ‘horaata horaata nyaayakkagi horaata’ (fight fight - for justice we fight) filled the air outside the New Out Patient Department (OPD) block at Bengaluru’s Victoria Hospital. Scores of doctors had taken to an indefinite strike, which began on Saturday. This followed an incident where a postgraduate student was mobbed and harassed on Friday evening in the outpatient department of the Minto Eye Hospital on the same premises. “It was a holiday for Karnataka Rajyotsava so only doctors who were on duty were in the OPD. Our postgraduate student was tending to cases when a mob of around twenty to thirty people barged into the clinic,” says Dr Nitin, a consultant from the Department of General Surgery who was also on the hospital campus on Friday night. Despite the fact that a complaint was given on Friday night to the VV Puram police station, no arrests have been made. The doctors are demanding police action be taken against the perpetrators and have decided to go on strike until this demand is met. A complaint was filed by the dean of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), DR HS Satish with the VV Puram Police after which police filed an FIR against unknown members of the KRV. A video of the incident from Friday evening shows the mob, who are allegedly members of the pro Kannada group, Karnataka Raksha Vedike, walking into the hospital and surrounding the female doctor. The group of individuals is seen chanting different slogans, “we want justice, we need a solution, and down down to the doctors of Minto." They were allegedly there on behalf of two patients who lost their eyesight following cataract surgery performed at the hospital in July. Also read: 2 patients lose eyesight following cataract surgery mishap at Bengaluru hospital As they begin confronting the doctor, who is heard replying in English saying that she does not want to reply, someone from the group questions why she isn’t speaking in Kannada. Witnesses of the incident stated that the groups members surrounded the doctor and held her by the arm. They forced another doctor who was filming the incident to stop. “It’s not the first time that something like this has happened. We come here to work, and now there’s this constant fear that something might happen. How many more times do we have to ask for security measures to be increased so that our safety is not at risk?” questions another protester, Dr Pooja, who is an acquaintance of the postgraduate student who was attacked. Speaking to TNM, Sanirappa, KRV General Secretary, denied that the issue was related to the doctor speaking in English. "The affected patients approached us for help and we decided to help them. These people come from poor places and trusted the hospital but have now ended up losing their eyesight, they hadn’t been given the compensation. That is all we wanted to ask about,” he said. “When we came here, the doctors behaved in a disgusting way. As you might have seen in the media, the doctors don't respect Kannada and despite knowing the language they do not speak it,” claimed one of the members of the group in a video addressing the media. Also read: KRV members allegedly assault Bengaluru hospital doctor for not speaking in Kannada

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Railway Board clears long-awaited Bengaluru suburban rail project

Transport

The only step left now is the clearance from the Union cabinet.

Soumya Chatterjee

Decades after it was first proposed, a dedicated suburban railway service for Bengaluru, has been approved by the Extended Railway Board (ERB) of the Indian Railways on Monday.  The development was confirmed by Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan to TNM. He also said the Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav is also likely to fly down to Bengaluru in the coming days to meet Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. Speaking on the same, Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya said, “This is an important bureaucratic milestone. We have achieved the penultimate step.  Now, this will be submitted for approval from cabinet committee." The announcement comes after various citizen groups in Bengaluru persistently asked authorities to start the services as a solution to the city’s growing traffic problem especially in the high density IT corridor along the Outer Ring Road. Even in the run-up to the railway board meeting, there was a Twitter campaign by Bengaluru activists. Cities like Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai already have suburban railway services. “The services once started will benefit more than a crore of people, not only those living in Bengaluru but also those from nearby towns and villages who travel to the city and back. Moreover, this will also minimise the vehicular pollution and congestion in the city,” Rajkumar Dugar, Convenor, Citizens 4 Citizens (an NGO), said.   Read: Bengaluru suburban rail services to airport likely to start before 2020 He added, “This project now awaits the final clearance from union Cabinet and we hope all our MPs will ensure quick approval and subsequent fast-tracking of this project.” The conversation on suburban railways was re-ignited by various citizen-led campaigns like Chuku Buku Beku and Modalu Train Beku. Responding to the campaigns, both the BJP at the Centre and Congress at the state had announced new trains and allocations for suburban rail in both state and Union budgets. However, despite an announcement by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in February ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the promise remained unfulfilled. In May, the PMO suggested changes in the Rs 22,242 crore plan mutually agreed by the state and Centre. Srinivas Alavilli, the co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, that led these campaigns, said, “It is heartening to hear that the ERB has cleared the project today while it’s extremely frustrating that this has been delayed for decades. There is some clarity now that there were certain objections that came from the PMO and the Niti Ayog and those were the reasons why the project report had to be revised.” “The real benefit that Bengaluru can get from Railways in the short term is that if they can run a few local short-distance trains using the existing infrastructure and do things like set up halt stations in places like Maratahalli. Initiatives working closely with BMTC to ensure bus connectivity from these stations will ensure that thousands of cars are off the Outer Ring Road. Once the project is fully functional, it will surely help lakhs and lakhs of people," he added. 

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66-yr-old Bengaluru woman with cognitive disability goes missing, family seeks help

Missing Person

Uma was last spotted near Bellary Road on Saturday evening, heading back towards Geddalahalli.

TNM Staff

A 66-year-old Bengaluru woman went missing on Friday evening and her family and the police have been actively looking for her since. Her family has sought help since Uma lives with a cognitive disability. Uma, the 66-year-old woman, was going to visit the hospital near her house in Sanjaynagar along with her brother Neelakantan (70) on Friday evening. Neelakantan had asked Uma to walk ahead to the hospital and he would be right behind her. However, by the time Neelakantan reached the hospital, which was a five-minute walk from their home, Uma was nowhere to be found. Neelakantan immediately informed his niece Janaki (40) and her husband Mani (45), both techies, who organized a search party for Uma. Mani, Janaki and her sister Deepa began looking for her near the hospital. “We were only looking for her near the hospital and surrounding areas. She had suffered a head injury as a child and has been living with a cognitive disability since then. She would never cross the road by herself so we were only looking for her on one side of the road,” Janaki says. Neelakantan, meanwhile, filed a missing persons complaint with the Sanjaynagar Police on Saturday morning. Simultaneously, Mani managed to obtain CCTV footage from a shop near the Sanjaynagar signal, where he could see Uma crossing the road that leads towards Geddalahalli. Mani, Janaki and Deepa followed her trail and began looking for her in Geddalahalli. “We began showing street vendors her picture and they told us that they had seen her. We kept searching for her and finally, we approached a bhel puri vendor. He told us that he had seen her and she seemed lost. He asked her where she was going and she told him that her brother was following her as she was walking back home. He told us that she then walked away,” Janaki adds. Uma’s relatives also obtained CCTV footage from a jewellery store, which showed Uma heading towards Mekhri circle. When they got footage from the Bengaluru Traffic Police from the cameras near Bellary Road, they found that Uma was headed back towards Geddalahalli on Saturday evening. “That’s the last we saw of her. We don’t know where she is anymore. We really need to find her. She requires special care because of her mental health issues and she is old,” Janaki said. The Sanjaynagar Police have issued a lookout notice and are currently combing through CCTV footage from various bus stops, junctions and private CCTV cameras in the area. The police are also making regular announcements on All India Radio. If you have seen Uma or if you have any information about her, you can contact Deepa on +91 99022 89839.    

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