Q&A: Khandres never worked for Bidar’s development, says Bhagwanth Khuba

Newly elected BJP MP from Bidar, Bhagwanth Khuba has surprised political observers by registering a clear victory against Congress strongman and KPCC Working President Eshwar Khandre, who was fielded against him. Though the ground situation was supposed to favour the Congress candidate, Mr Khuba overcame all challenges posed by Mr Khandre and his party almost single-handedly with the Modi wave too working in his favour. Here are excerpts from an interview with him.

Wasn't your victory quite unexpected?
Unexpected? Your assessment is totally wrong. Not only was my win assured, this margin of victory was also quite expected.

What are the factors responsible for your victory?
The first and foremost reason is the very effective leadership that Mr Modi has provided. During his five- year tenure, he has many achievements to his credit. And the second important reason is my role in taking the programmes of the Modi government to the people. More than six and a half lakh people belonging to various sections have benefitted in my constituency. It is important to note that I did not face any charge of corruption during my five-year tenure. I strived for nearly 18 hours a day and visited all parts of the constituency. What more can an MP do?

But the situation appeared to favour the Congress candidate as there are four Congress MLAs and two MLCs besides one Janata Dal (Secular) MLA in the Lok Sabha constituency. Was the Modi wave perceptible in Bidar?
The Narendra Modi wave was quite evident, there was an undercurrent last time too. I had declared on the day I filed my nomination that while my voltage was 220 volts last time (2014 LokSabha polls), this time it would be 440 volts.

Can your public statements be considered a true assessment of the ground situation?
I don't belong to that breed of politicians.. I said what I felt existed at the ground level.

You single handedly fought the election this time. Big leaders of your party here such as Subash Kallur, Prakash Khandre, Rajendra Verma and others kept away from centrestage. How were you able to lead the Bharatiya Janata Party’s campaign?
In the era of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all these leaders have become outdated.Today the biggest strength is the power of the voter...we underestimated his power. What is important is to educate and convince the voter on which leader or party is important. Today, there is no leader who can claim he can get a thousand votes for any party he belongs to. So I succeeded in winning over the hearts of 'mathadaara-prabhugalu.' Our campaign was also very effective and we were able to manage things properly upto the booth level.

Did you benefit from the fielding of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Working President Eshwar Khandre as the Congress candidate?
Four years ago itself, I had predicted that Mr Khandre would be the candidate against me. He is one leader who I thought had the capacity to be fielded as the candidate.

There is a debate going on that Mr Khandre underestimated you. At many functions during the campaign, he made personal attacks on you.
That is the Congress culture...he said I'm not fit to become even a gram panchayat member...nalaayak, ayogya.....he sarcastically called me the eighth wonder of the world as I directly entered the Lok Sabha without facing a single election. He accused me of not doing anything for development etc. But when I posed the question of what the Khandre family, which was in politics for over 60 years, had done for the district, he did not have an answer. I gave the list of projects and works I have achieved during the last five years, but he failed to submit his performance card before the public.

The Congress strategy was to divide the Lingayat votes by fielding Mr Khandre against you. From the poll result, it appears like they failed. Why?
The big tragedy is that the Congress felt they could divide the Lingayat vote. They failed in their effort. I asked what had Mr Khandre done for the Veerashaiva community as general secretary of Akhila Bharat Veerashaiva -Lingayat Mahasabha. He had no answer to provide.

Do you agree that the movement for separate Lingayat religion helped you instead of Mr Khandre?
No ..I don't concur with the view.

In the previous Assembly election, this issue did play a role....
In the previous election, it was no doubt a dominant issue. But in this election, they failed to effect a division of Lingayat votes.

In the past the Congress party in Bidar was riven with factionalism - there were the Khandre, Humnabad and Nagamarpally groups. Each leader confined himself to his own constituency and did not try to transgress into other's territory. Has Mr Khandre's ambition to grow as a district level leader harmed his chances?
Hundred per cent true, Mr Khadre's ambition did him in. Never in the past has the Khandre family worked for the overall development of the district. Their vision was confined to Bhalki. So people did not approve of Mr Khandre' s ambition to emerge as a district level leader.

Bidar constituency was hailed as a strong bastion of the Bharatiya Janata Party since late Ramachandra Veerapppa represented it. Has your victory buttressed that view?
Then. it was a reserved constituency and the reasons why Mr Veerappa was elected were different. Now the reasons why I have been elected are different.