Pramod Mutalik tries his luck in fight between BJP and Congress in Karkala

Karkala in Udupi district assumes significance as the BJP in its erstwhile avatar as the Bharatiya Jan Sangh opened its first account in coastal Karnataka in this constituency in 1967 elections.

Karkala in Udupi district assumes significance as the BJP in its erstwhile avatar as the Bharatiya Jan Sangh opened its first account in coastal Karnataka in this constituency in 1967 elections. After the Congress took over the constituency in the election which followed in 1972, the BJP could snatch it back only after a gap of more than three decades, in 2004.

Now, two hardcore “Hindutva” candidates, including from the BJP, are facing each other amid a novice Congress candidate in the fray.

In the constituency, founder of Hindutva outfit Sri Rama Sene Pramod Mutalik is taking on Minister for Energy, Kannada and Culture and incumbent three-time BJP MLA V. Sunil Kumar whose routes were in the Bajrang Dal. Mr. Mutalik is contesting as an Independent while the Congress has fielded Muniyal Uday Kumar Shetty, an entrepreneur-cum-contractor.

The Congress which snatched the seat from the Jan Sangh retained it till 1999 (seven elections). It was former Congress Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily who bagged the seat in 1972. It was Mr. Kumar who as the BJP candidate snatched the seat again from the Congress in 2004. He lost the next election in 2008 to the Congress and made it to the Assembly again in the next two elections (2013, 2018). When the BJP lost in all four of five Assembly segments in Udupi district in 2013 elections, Mr. Kumar was the only candidate who won from Karkala. When Mr. Kumar won the elections for the first time, he was the State convener of the Bajrang Dal.

It is said that Mr. Mutalik is among those who groomed Mr. Kumar, and the two are now fighting each other.

Mr. Mutalik, who was nowhere in the political scene of coastal belt, appeared suddenly in Udupi in this January and announced at a press conference that he will fight against “corrupt and anti-Hindu politicians” in Karkala. He said that he was unhappy with the way Mr. Kumar was treating Hindutva activists. Illegal cattle transportation and slaughtering are on the rise in Karkala constituency, he claimed, and appealed to the BJP to extend its support to his (Mr. Mutalik’s) candidature by fielding Mr. Kumar from any other constituency.

Reacting to Mr. Mutalik’s entry, the Minister in a series of tweets said that Mr. Mutalik has been lured by an “inducement” of money to contest. Mr. Kumar has been vocal that his priority for ‘Hindutva’ has not changed.