Congress leader Satish Jarkiholi to launch Karnataka poll campaign from graveyard

His scorn for astrology and associated beliefs were also on display when he said that if there is ‘Rahu Kaal’ (considered to be an inauspicious period) between April 13 and 20, he will file his nomination papers during one of those days.

“It (such belief) is just an illusion,” he had said, asking whether it was wrong to embark on a new journey during ‘Rahu Kaal’ or offer puja at a graveyard. “I have been doing it for the past three decades,” Jarkiholi said.

According to sources close to Jarkiholi, dates of the launch of his campaign are yet to be finalised as the Congress leader is still in New Delhi for the Central Election Commission meeting to finalise the candidates for the party.

Jarkiholi is also renowned for his graveyard stays on December 6 every year under the banner ‘Manava Bandutva Vedike’. Seminars and workshops critiquing superstitious beliefs are held during these stays, where participants eat and sleep at the graveyards. Jarkiholi is also known for his push for the Anti-Superstition Bill during Siddaramaiah’s regime and it is widely rumoured that he had resigned from the Cabinet as the government had failed to pass the Bill in the state Legislature.

In November 2022, Jarkiholi stoked a controversy saying that the word ‘Hindu’ had a Persian origin and was imposed on the people of the region. “You will be ashamed if you know the meaning of the word,” he had said.

He is the eldest of the five Jarkiholi brothers, four of whom are legislators, including Satish. While two of the brothers — Ramesh Jarkiholi and Balachandra Jarkiholi — represent the BJP, the third brother is Independent MLC Lakhan Jarkiholi.