The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of candidates for the Karnataka assembly elections on Tuesday. In the first phase, a list of 189 candidates for as many constituencies was made public. Nikhil Katti, the son of the late Umesh Katti, has been nominated by the high command to represent Hukkeri Constituency, one of the state’s significant assembly districts.
Umesh Katti, who was the sitting MLA from Hukkeri, passed away last year, leaving the seat vacant. The BJP has now granted a ticket to his son Nikhil with the view that he would get sympathy votes, owing to his father’s demise. Umesh Katti’s brother was also a ticket aspirant for the same constituency. However, the high command, to not disappoint him, has nominated him as a candidate from the Chikkodi-Sadalga Assembly constituency.
Umesh Katthi was elected to the Legislative Assembly eight times consecutively from this constituency. He was a powerful figure in North Karnataka.
The only time he lost was in 2004 on a Congress ticket against BJP candidate Shashikant Nayak. Under the late J.H. Patel’s government, he served as a minister for the first time. He then served in the administrations of B.S. Yediyurappa, D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar, and Basavaraj Bommai.
Katti frequently made news for his statements supporting the idea of statehood for the region of north Karnataka and for openly expressing his intention to become chief minister. The state should be divided, he had suggested, because that would be the “only way the northern parts would acquire some kind of growth.”
In addition to owning hundreds of hectares of farmland, his family also owns two sugar mills, a steel factory, and a 5-star hotel in Belagavi. They also own a 15-story apartment in Ambedkar Nagar in Belagavi.
Umesh Katti passed away from a massive cardiac arrest at his home on September 6 last year.
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