It’s a sweet deal for Belagavi’s Jarkiholi brothers
GOKAK: A small town in north Karnataka’s Belagavi district, Gokak is famous for its sticky sweet ‘Karadantu’ (which means fried gum). The other thing the district is famous for are the Jarkiholi brothers. The five — Ramesh (57), Satish (55), Balachandra (52), Bhimshi (50) and Lakhan (42) — have amassed fortunes and harnessed political power by sticking together in spite of shadow boxing with each other from different political parties over the years. These sugar baron brothers wield enormous influence in the district, which accounts for 18 of the 224 seats in the state assembly. Belagavi has the second-highest number of seats for a district after Bengaluru.
Gokak has its share of landmarks and monuments, but ask any local and they would know the exact locations of the houses of the Jarkiholis — children of Laxmanrao Jarkiholi, a landless labourer from the Bedara-Nayak community.The community is classified as a scheduled tribe.
The story of the brothers, a local Congress worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, was intricately tied to the increase in sugarcane cultivation in the district. Between them, the brothers control three sugar factories in a district that grows the highest amount of sugarcane in the state, having displaced Mandya as the state’s sugar belt over the last decade. Apart from sugar, the brothers dabble in the liquor and education sectors.
With overlapping interests, their political loyalties differ as well. While Ramesh and Satish are contesting as Congress candidates from the Gokak and Yemkanmardi seats respectively, Balachandra is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Arabhavi. Lakhan, the youngest brother, had an eye on Yemkanmardi for his political debut, but Satish (the Congress candidate) did not relent. While rumours of Lakhan contesting against Satish on a BJP ticket did the rounds, he is campaigning for Ramesh in Gokak these days.
The exception to the unspoken rule of brothers not contesting against each other despite being members of different parties was in 2008 -- Bhimshi contested from Gokak for the BJP against Ramesh, who was the Congress candidate. The brothers have been contesting elections since the late 1990’s. Ramesh said there was no discord among the brothers, and all internal issues are sorted out as and when they crop up. “It is true that Lakhan wanted to contest from the Yemkanmardi seat, and he was upset that he did not get it. He was assured a ticket by the BJP but I convinced him that it wouldn’t be wise of him to jump parties at this stage,” he said.