The Congress has chosen Priyanka Jarkiholi, daughter of Minister Satish Jarkiholi, to fight the Lok Sabha polls from Chikkodi, Mrinal Hebbalkar, son of Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar, from Belagavi and the former MLA Anjali Nimbalkar to be its nominee from the Uttara Kannada seat.
This arrangement of choosing candidates from powerful families to fight the polls seems to have quelled possible dissent among ticket aspirants in Belagavi and Uttara Kannada districts.
However, the Congress is likely to face some non-cooperation from the faction led by Member of Legislative Assembly Vijayanand Kashappanavar in Bagalkot.
The ruling Congress chose Samyukta Patil, daughter of Minister Shivanand Patil, to represent it in Bagalkot. The fight in Vijayapura will be led by Raju Alagur, party nominee and former district unit president.
Vijayapura is reserved for candidates of Scheduled Castes communities. Prof. Alagur will take on seasoned politician Ramesh Jigajinagi in the constituency.
Most of the candidates in North Karnataka come from families commanding political clout.
Ms. Nimbalkar is a post-graduate in medicine. She is related to the former Chief Ministers of Maharashtra S.B. Chavan and Ashok Chavan. S.B. Chavan was her uncle and Ashok Chavan is her cousin. Ashok Chavan joined the BJP recently and became a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra.
The 47-year-old former MLA was born Anjali Mohite Patil in Kolhapur in Maharashtra. She studied in Mumbai, completing her Master of Surgery in Obstetrics with specialisation in invitro-fertilisation and laparoscopic surgery.
She moved to Karnataka after marriage to Hemant Nimbalkar, Karnataka cadre IPS officer, who also hails from Maharashtra.
She lost her first election as an Independent candidate from Khanapur Assembly seat in 2013. In 2018, she became the first Congress MLA from Khanapur since reorganisation of States. She lost to the BJP’s Vithal Halgekar of the BJP in 2023.
In her bio-data she says that the Mohite Patil and Nimbalkar families are directly related to the Maratha warrior king Shivaji Maharaj. Apart from being a member of AICC and KPCC, she has held positions of the party spokesperson, chairperson of Bal Bhavan and political secretary to the Forest Minister, in the past. She is a director in a sugar factory, Anjalitai Canes Private Limited in Khanapur.
Priyanka Jarkiholi, the eldest child of Satish Jarkiholi and Shakuntala Jarkiholi, is 27 years old and holds an MBA degree. She is a director in nine companies, including infrastructure, sugar production and mining companies, additional director in a sugar production company and a partner in four companies, including a silk sari production company and a fertiliser company.
She has been working for some social causes, like sponsoring higher education and sports training of women from poor families. She has campaigned for her father in his Assembly and parliamentary poll campaigns in the last few years.
Mrinal Hebbalkar is a 31-year-old civil engineer. His bio-data says he served as NSUI and Youth Congress office-bearer for 10 years. He is married to Hita Sangamesh, a doctor by training and daughter of B.K. Sangamesh, former MLA from Bhadravati.
He is the managing director of Mrinal Sugars, a director in another sugar factory and a cooperative society and a partner in a property development firm.
Samyukta Patil is a lawyer who also manages the family farm. A few years ago, she hit the headlines for keeping fast during Ramzan.
Raju Alagur is a former MLA. He is a protege of B.M. Patil, Minister M.B. Patil’s father. He served as a college professor before taking a plunge into politics.
