Mangalore, Mar 25, 2013:
That the BJP has taken the warning bell of ULB poll results seriously in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi can be gauged from the fact that the party is seriously considering fielding former CM D V Sadananda Gowda and MP Nalin Kumar Kateel for the upcoming assembly elections.
Though the party is keen in fielding sitting MLA’s in most of the constituencies, there might be exceptions as DVS might be persuaded by the party high command to contest from Puttur constituency which is turning out to be a battleground of prestige both for the BJP and the Congress. Now that DVS’s bête noire Shakunthala Shetty has joined Congress and might get party’s ticket to contest, DVS might take up the challenge of contesting from here and thus teach a befitting political lesson to Shakunthala Shetty. Mallika Prasad is the sitting BJP MLA and had won the last election by a narrow margin against Congress candidate late Bondala Jagannath Shetty. (It may be recalled that young Congress leader Bondala Shetty died in a road accident last year)
Naturally the BJP is bent upon retaining its stranglehold in Puttur constituency where the party has considerable following and the entry of Shakunthala Shetty, this time as a Congress candidate, has created much anxiety and excitement in this constituency.
Moodbidri is the only constituency which has remained with the Congress even when there was a strong BJP wave in the coastal belt in the last decade. As MP Nalin Kumar has shown keen interest in joining state politics the party high command is toying with the idea of fielding him from Moodbidri where Congress candidate Abaychandra Jain is sitting pretty having won three times from this constituency. JD(S) is sure to field its senior leader K Amarnath Shetty. Though the name of Umanath Kotian is also doing the rounds as a possible BJP candidate from Moodbidri, the party may zero in on Kateel rather than Kotian. Somehow the BJP is keen to wrest the seat from the Congress in the coming elections. In the last elections BJP had fielded Jagadish Adhikari but he had to be content with the second position.
Needless to say one can look forward for an interesting battle of political bigwigs in both these constituencies which may throw in some surprises.
