Sri Rama Sene takes on BJP, wants Muthalik to be saffron candidate

Karkala: The Karkala assembly constituency has seen yet another political plot twist in poll-bound Karnataka with pressure from Sri Rama Sene. It was only a fight between BJP and Congress parties in Karkala and now, the Sri Rama Sene wants to join the bandwagon.

The Udupi District Spokesperson of Sri Rama Sene, Sharath Poojary has asserted that the BJP should promote the head of Sri Rama Sene, Pramod Muthalik in Karkala. Muthalik will be contesting as an independent candidate from Karkala as he had earlier mentioned.

"If the BJP chooses to ignore Pramod Muthalik's candidature and supports its own candidate, there will be other Hindu organisations which will support Muthalik and his cause. Muthalik has a contributed a lot towards the growth of BJP's cadre in the Coastal and North Karnataka regions," Sharath Poojary mentioned.

B Maniraj Shetty, a BJP leader from Karkala however, negated Sharath's statements and said, "It will be tough for Pramod Muthalik to secure even 3,000 votes if he contests as an independent candidate from Karkala constituency. This tactic of Pramod Muthalik is nothing but a ploy to put pressure on the BJP."

According to Maniraj, the Congress is supporting Muthalik and hence, Muthalik's team can now be called as the B Team of Congress. "The BJP's winning candidate in Karkala in the 2018 election is the present Energy minister of Karnataka, V Sunil Kumar. He won from Karkala with a margin of 42,566 votes against late Gopal Bhandary from Congress. There is an intra-party strife within the Congress this time in Karkala. Hence, BJP will secure the win with greater margin," Maniraj said.

It is to be noted that in 2018 assembly elections in Karkala, Sunil Kumar won 91,245 votes while Gopal Bhandary won 48,679 votes. The drama that is witnessed from Karkala this year could split BJP votes if Sri Rama Sene continues its stand on Muthalik as he has quite a large number of followers in the area.