Three Congress leaders have made it to the top posts in Belagavi district – Salauddin Saleem Khatib also called as Raja Saleem has been appointed the Belagavi city district president, Basavaraj Shegavi will head the Belagavi rural unit and Laxmanrao Chingle will be the president of the Chikkodi district unit.
Mr. Shegavi is a Lingayat leader and Mr. Chingale has served as the district Kuruba Samaj president in the past.
Mr. Chingale is a known loyalist of Satish Jarkiholi, the district in-charge Minister, and Mr. Shegavi is a follower of Laxmi Hebbalkar and other leaders.
The list of party presidents includes the name of Dayanand S. Patil, for the Bagalkot district committee. The young leader has served as Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) general secretary. He usually travels with senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi during their State tours. He has translated their speeches from Hindi to Kannada in public rallies in the region.
His father S.B. Patil was the MP from undivided Bijapur district. He belongs to the Lingayat Reddy community.
The name of Vijayapura district Congress committee is conspicuously absent from the list. The party sources said that this means that the current incumbents would continue to function. Mallikarjun Loni, a Lingayat Ganiga leader, was appointed the president two years ago. He had served as a zilla panchayat member, before shifting from the Janata Dal Secular to the Congress.
Mr. Loni who had unsuccessfully fought a legislative council election as an independent is considered a loyal follower of Minister M.B. Patil.
There were several claimants to the post in Vijayapura. They were largely said to belong to the four factions led by Minister M.B. Patil, former Minister Shivanand Patil, and MLAs Yashwantraygouda Patil and Appaji Nadagouda.
Around 35 candidates had filed applications before the KPCC president. They included local leaders with significant clout like Rafiq Tapal, S.M. Patil Ganihar and Syed Khadri. However, the party chose four Muslim leaders as district presidents, reducing the chances of appointing a Muslim leader as the Vijayapura unit president, a local leader said.
