Laxman Savadi, ex-Dy CM Of Karnataka Who Quit BJP To Join Cong, Wins Athani

Laxman Savadi had stepped down from the primary membership of the BJP after the saffron party denied him a ticket.

Ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections, the state’s former deputy chief minister and BJP leader Laxman Savadi had joined the Congress on 14 April, dealing a major blow to the BJP.

(Image: The Quint/Vibhushita Singh)

Karnataka Assembly Election Results 2023: Karnataka former deputy chief minister and BJP leader Laxman Savadi, who joined the Congress last month after being sidelined by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), won the Athani seat in Belagavi with a margin of 76,122 votes.

Savadi defeated the BJP's Mahesh Kumathalli.

Savadi had stepped down from the primary membership of the BJP after the saffron party denied him a ticket in the 10 May elections to the 224-seat Karnataka Assembly.

In Athani, located in Northern Karnataka, politics has come full circle. In the 2018 assembly elections, Savadi had contested on a BJP ticket against then Congress candidate Mahesh Kumathalli, who had defeated Savadi by a small margin of 2,330 votes.

This time too, Savadi faced Kumathalli but both contested from parties that they had earlier opposed. Kumathalli was seeking a re-election from the Athani seat for the third time.

They Have History Too

Mahesh Kumathalli was one of the 17 MLAs who had defected to the BJP in 2019, resulting in the collapse of the JD(S)-Congress government helmed by then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. It was Savadi who had facilitated Kumathalli’s defection.

In return, Savadi had hoped that he would contest from Athani in the current elections. But when he was denied ticket by the BJP, the former deputy chief minister switched camps and joined the Congress.

In 2019, when the BJP had decided to have one deputy chief minister each from three prominent communities – Lingayat, Vokaligga and Dalit – Savadi was the party’s choice from the Lingayat community.   

Split Lingayat Vote Bank?

Savadi is a prominent Lingayat leader and his exit may have dented the Lingayat vote bank of the BJP. While Kumathalli was hoping that the Lingayats will remain loyal to the BJP, for Savadi, the results were a barometer of popularity.

The assembly segment comprises of 2.20 lakh voters, of which a lakh or nearly half the voters are Lingayats. With both Savadi and Kumathalli belonging to the Lingayat community, the voters gave their mandate on 10 May.

Although it seemed like a battle between Savadi and Kumathalli on the surface, it is actually proxy fight between Savadi and Ramesh Jarkiholi, a prominent political leader in the Belagavi region, who reportedly pushed for Kumathalli’s candidature over Savadi’s from the Athani constituency.

Ramesh too had a significant role in dethroning the Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-Congress government in the state in 2019 and installing the BJP government to power.

Elections in Belagavi district are closely watched because it has 18 assembly seats, the second most after Bengaluru Urban, which comprises 28 seats.