Newsmaker | Kharge’s son-in-law picks up the baton in Gulbarga: Who is Radhakrishna Doddamani?

Doddamani is tasked with retaking Gulbarga that used to be one of the Congress’s strongholds. In 2019, the party lost from the constituency for only the third time since 1952. It was also Kharge’s first electoral defeat in his 60-year political career. Doddamani had been working behind the scenes so far, managing the political and financial affairs of Kharge and, as a result, he is known to have the ear of Congress leaders when it comes to local politics. He especially managed Kharge’s matters in the erstwhile Assembly segment of Gurmitkal.

“He is regarded as an approachable person and is open to people. He is good at communicating with people and has vast experience managing polls and affairs in Gurmitkal, which Kharge represented in the past,” said a local leader in Kalaburagi.

One of the possible reasons for Kharge’s loss in 2019 was his gradual estrangement from a vast section of voters in the region apart from the Dalit community, to which Kharge belongs and is known to stand firmly behind the Kharges. Among the many challenges that Doddamani faces is bridging the gulf between the Kharge family and many backward communities in the region. While some of the non-Dalit communities and leaders returned to the Congress fold after 2019 — like Kabbaliga leader Baburao Chinchansur (ahead of last year’s Assembly polls that the Congress won handsomely in Gulbarga) — there are still some strained relationships.

“There are factors in favour of the Congress like the implementation of the guarantee schemes, consolidation of Dalit and Muslim votes but there are also the remains of burnt bridges from the past due to aggressive local politics,” said a local Congress leader.

Doddamani will lock horns with sitting MP Umesh Jadhav, a former Congress MLA who rebelled against the Kharges and joined the BJP in 2019. Jadhav rallied support based on his personal equations in the region and the Modi factor to defeat Kharge.

While Kharge cited his busy schedule as the national Congress president for staying away from the Lok Sabha poll fray this time, despite the insistence of leaders like state Congress president D K Shivakumar, there are concerns that another loss from the seat could hamper his political future, especially given that he has two more years as a Rajya Sabha member.

Kharge is seen as the facilitator of the grant of a special development status to the region, which has helped the youth gain employment in government jobs in the police and other departments. He is also credited with the setting up of government hospitals for specialised cardiac and cancer care in Gulbarga as well as medical and engineering colleges.

Doddamani, who is a trustee in the well-known Dr B R Ambedkar Medical College in Bengaluru, has business interests in real estate, financial and manufacturing sectors. He is a partner with Kharge’s son and Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge, 45, in some of the businesses.

Who is Jayaprakash Hegde?

Meanwhile, among the veterans in the fray for the Congress is 71-year-old K Jayaprakash Hegde, a former MP and state minister. A former chairperson of the state Backward Classes Commission, Hegde’s tenure ended on February 29 and he joined the Congress on March 12.

The leader from Udupi district has a strong base in the region and has been elected to the Assembly as an Independent on three occasions. He has also been associated with the Janata Dal, the Congress, and the BJP in the past.

He was the state fisheries minister in the Janata Dal government between 1994 and 1999 and joined the Congress after his erstwhile Brahmavar constituency in Udupi ceased to exist following delimitation. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Udupi-Chikmagalur seat in a 2012 bypoll.

A tussle for political primacy in Udupi, which was dominated by the veteran Congress leader Oscar Fernandes led to Hegde’s subsequent exit from the party. He joined the BJP in 2017 and was appointed the chairperson of the Backward Classes Commission.

A report on a caste census that was completed under his tenure and presented to the Congress government on his last day as the panel’s chairman has yet to be accepted. The survey report is expected to be central to state politics after the Lok Sabha polls amid strong opinions for and against it, even within the Congress.

Hegde, a lawyer by profession and son of a judge, was one of the owners of a Shimoga Karnataka Premier League cricket team, which was purchased for Rs 3.25 crore in 2016. The Congress leader, who is from the dominant, land-holding Bunt community in coastal Karnataka, is up against former BJP minister and state legislator Srinivas Kota Poojary, a backward class leader, in Udupi-Chikmagalur.