KALABURAGI: The second innings of Dharam Singh as Bidar Lok Sabha MP after his shocking defeat in the 2008 Assembly election from Jewargi Assembly constituency, helped in considerably reducing Lingayat dominance in the district and helped the Congress take total control of politics in Bidar.
This strategy was almost a replication of what he was able to achieve in Kalaburagi district with the help of his comrade-in-arms and Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. Singh should also be credited for ending BJP dominance in Bidar, even though the saffron party bounced back in the 2014 election.
Late Ramchandra Veerappa who had won the Bidar seat for BJP in 1991, retained the seat for the party in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004 elections and made it a BJP bastion.
Singh shared the dais with his friend Mallikarjun Kharge at all functions the latter chaired as Union Minister and was lauded for joining hands with him in ushering in a “new era of development in the region.”
He had almost moved away from the centrestage of Kalaburagi politics after his election in 2009 and focussed more on Bidar district after he was elected from there.
Before the emergence of Singh on the scene, the Congress in Bidar was a divided house with three powerful Lingyat leaders-Bheemanna Khandre, Basavaraj Patil Humnabad and Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli- squabbling among themselves.
Singh, who emerged as the unquestionable leader of Bidar, initially faced strong opposition from the powerful Lingayat leaders. But the wily politician he was, Singh knew how to win by craft and his suave manners and overcame the initial resistance by forging a formidable alliance of backward classes, minorities and Dalits who were divided in the district.
He gave voice to these sections and made them stand by him in his fight against the dominance of Lingayats in the district.
After making peace with Mr Bheemanna Khandre, who had almost retired from active politics, Singh tried to cut Mr Humnabad to size by denying him the Congress ticket in the biennial election to the Upper House from the Local bodies constituency in 2010.
However, Singh had to suffer a setback as Mr Humnabad, who contested on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket after quitting Congress, was able to inflict a humiliating defeat on the candidate fielded by him, following consolidation of Lingayat votes in his favour.
However, Singh soon emerged stronger in the district as there was no powerful leader to challenge him.
He gained strength from the good equation he enjoyed with AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh.
That Singh was able to reassert his authority was evident when he managed to get party ticket for his eldest son Vijay Singh in 2015. He was also grooming his son-in-law Chandra Singh as a candidate from Bidar South in the coming election.
“Nothing happened in the district unit of the Congress party without his nod, that was the kind of supremacy Singh enjoyed in Bidar. His ambition was to win all six Assembly seats and the Bidar Lok Sabha seat in the coming elections and re-establish Congress authority in the district. But destiny snatched him away before his ambition could be fulfilled,” a senior Congress leader said.
