Karwar constituency affairs get murkier

Karwar: The Karwar assembly constituency which is known for its caste affinity is now hanging in balance between three politicians - Rupali Naik, Sathish Sail and Anand Asnotikar ,the prospective candidates from BJP, Congress and JD(S). Sathish Sail and Anand Asnotikar are also vying with each other for the Congress ticket for the Karwar Assembly seat.

While Sail and Asnotikar facing a bleak future due to their past political careers are now willing to bury their hatchet and in the process may ruin the chances of Congress by splitting their individual votes. This can be avoided if one of them clarifies their stand and join forces for Congress. Anand has nearly 25,000 votes on his personal account and if he jointly works with Sail he will add that many votes to the Congress kitty.

While Sail has little more than 35,000 votes from his personal account and with or without a Congress seat he might take that many votes away from the party. If Congress is seriously looking at winning this seat in 2023, either Sail or Asnotikar may have to demit their claim over the seat and join forces. But Asnotikar is also angling at the BJP ticket for 2023 following BS Yeddyurappa becoming a member of the Parliamentary Board of the BJP. This sparked an anti-Rupali Naik campaign in the constituency. Henchmen of Asnotikar had started spreading rumours about Rupali Naik was not likely to get to contest from the BJP in Karwar. But the tall leader of the Congress party RV Deshpande is firmly in favour of Sail being given a ticket, while Yeddyurappa will pitch for Rupali Naik. Both Congress and BJP at this point in time cannot ignore Asnotikar and yet hope to win this seat. Asnotikar is presently and technically in Janata Dal (Secular) but the party's presence in Karwar will be alive as long as Asnotikar is in that party. His followers in Karwar are watching his move intently.

In an intense move to block Asnotikar's entry into Congress, Sail has put off his plans to join BJP. In fact, he had nursed an idea of joining the BJP after his personal vote share gain had surpassed that of Rupali Naik in the 2018 elections who had nearly 23,000 votes while Sail had over 35,000 votes. Both Nalin Kumar Kateel and DK Shivakumar, chiefs of state BJP and INC have understood the game Sail is playing and may not heed to his designs. By placating Asnotikar not to contest this time and deposit his personal vote share for Congress it is still possible for Congress to win this seat though with a narrow margin.