DHARWAD: Desperate to increase its tally in Lok Sabha from Karnataka and to recapture the seat from BJP in Belagavi constituency, the Congress is considering fielding Khanapur MLA Anjali Nimbalkar as its candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Belagavi.Highly placed sources said the Congress had decided to field a Maratha candidate from Belagavi and Anjali is the lone person fitting the bill. “She is the top priority now,” said a senior leader.Belagavi constituency had been the bastion of Congress from 1977 to 1989 as its candidates A K Kotrashetti (1977), S B Sidnal (1980, 1984, 1989 and 1991) winning the seat. It was Shivanand Koujalgi of Janata Dal who wrested the seat from Congress in 1996. He had defeated Babagouda Patil of BJP pushing the Congress to the third place. Babagouda (BJP) had won in 1998 but lost to Amarsinh Patil of Congress in 1999.The BJP tasted success again in 2004 as its candidate Suresh Angadi won against Amarsinh Patil. He has been winning since then. The Congress had fielded Laxmi Hebbalkar against Angadi in 2014, but she failed to wrest the seat for the party.It may be recalled here that Chikkodi Lok Sabha constituency in Belagavi district had the rare distinction of sending one person - B Shankaranand - seven times in a row to the Parliament. A Congress nominee, Shankaranand had won the seat in 1967, 1971, 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989 and 1991.It took a woman candidate to end the winning streak of the Congress strongman. Ratnamala Savanur of Janata Dal defeated Shankaranand in 1996 by a margin of 1,12,759 votes. Shankaranand again suffered defeat at the hands of Ramesh Jigajinagi of Lok Shakti in 1998 by a margin of 1,31,238 votes. Jigajinagi later changed over to JD(U) and won against Shankaranand’s son Pradeep Kanagali in 1999 and again in 2004 as BJP candidate against Shyam Ghatage of Congress.Taking cue from the Chikkodi experiment, the Congress is planning to field a woman candidate who is also a Maratha and Anjali Nimbalkar fits the frame, said the senior leader. “She has been asked to be ready,” the leader said.Anjali Nimbalkar, a doctor by profession, is representing Khanapur constituency in the assembly. Khanapur, though in Belagavi district, comes under Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency. She had won the assembly poll against Vithal Halagekar of BJP by a margin of 9,377 votes. In 2013, she lost to Arvind Patil of BJP by a margin of 19,000 votes.

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