MES resurgence in Belagavi leaves national parties worried

The Maharashtra Ekikarna Samithi (MES) will contest from six assembly seats in Belagavi district.

The manner in which the MES has been planning its election campaign has left the national parties worried.

The MES is fighting for the merger of 865 villages of Karnataka, including Belagavi into Maharashtra. The party has decided to field candidates in Belagavi (North), Belagavi (South), Belagavi (Rural), Khanapur, Yamakanmaradi and Nilani.

The MES is looking for a triangular contest with the Congress and BJP in the three segments of Belagavi and Khanapur. The focus would be on the Belagavi (south) constituency which is represented by the BJP's Abhay Patil. It is also training its guns on Khanapur which is represented by Congress MLA, Anjali Nimbalkar.

Over the past six months, the MES has been working round the clock to strengthen its chances in these areas.

In the 2018 elections, the MES was whitewashed. In the 70s and 80s, the party had 6-7 legislators in the Karnataka Assembly.

The MES which has lost a lot of leaders due to infighting, this time are however trying to regroup and put up a good fight. The rise of the MES has left the national parties worried and counter-strategies are being planned to counter the party which has sought the merger of Belagavi in Maharashtra.

Recently the MES held a meeting to discuss the strategy ahead of the May 10 Karnataka elections. Working president of the party and former MLA, Manohar Kinekar and city president, Deepak Dalavi said that this is an election of existence for the MES. They also said that this is the right time to fight against injustice.

Kinekar also spoke about the dispute in the Khanapur MES as one of the leaders decided to quit the party and contest as an independent against an official candidate of the MES.

"Teach a befitting lesson to such traitors," Kinekar also said.

He went on to say that the party had to struggle in the past six months to bring unity in the organisation, but some traitors formed a separate faction. This is unacceptable, Kinekar also said.

To prevent more such situations, the MES has formed a high-powered committee to manage dissent among the leaders in the six constituencies.