A battle royal expected in Udupi

Udupi: The Udupi assembly constituency might witness a pitched battle between to Mogaveera (fishermen) strongmen. Prasadraj Kanchan hails from a family of politicians and is a promotor of MNC automobile franchise from Congress and Yashpal Suvarna a fisherman leader who is a sea faring fisherman and promoter of religious institutions and shrines is the BJP’s candidate.

It is the story of Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer bestseller) on the ground of this politically charged and yet highly polarised milieu, the caste factor is working overtime here as both BJP and Congress are fighting tooth and nail and have regrouped here with Billavas, Micro OBCs and minorities.

The Udupi assembly constituency has been identified as a seat with a strong BJP presence by political experts, but some recent surveys suggest that it could be a swing seat. The BJP's K Raghupathi Bhat won this seat in 2004, 2008, and 2018. In 2013, the Congress candidate Pramod Madhwaraj defeated the BJP's Sudhakar Shetty, who was considered a weak candidate at the time.

Billavas form the majority of the electorate in this constituency, followed by Bunts and Mogaveeras. Both Congress and BJP have fielded Mogaveera candidates this time, and it is expected to be a two-way battle between the two parties.

Initially, when the BJP denied a ticket to Raghupathi Bhat, he expressed his displeasure, but he is now campaigning extensively for the BJP's candidate Yashpal Suvarna. In Udupi city and Brahmavara rural areas, the BJP has managed to gain significant support, while voters in coastal areas are divided between Congress and BJP. In the Congress camp, ticket aspirant Krishnamurthy Acharya rebelled and filed his nomination as an independent candidate after Prasadraj Kanchan was declared the candidate.

However, he withdrew his nomination papers and decided to stand with Kanchan after receiving assurances from the party's state-level leaders. Despite Pramod Madhwaraj's defection to the BJP in May 2022, Congress' cadre seems to be holding up well, and they have accepted Kanchan's leadership.

During his campaign, the BJP's Yashpal Suvarna has been highlighting his development agenda while Congress is trying to paint him as a roughneck. Suvarna is known in the region as a champion of Hindutva, while Kanchan is trying to appeal to youth voters through his development agenda. The JDS has fielded a candidate, but they are likely to finish in third or fourth place. The AAP's Prabhakar Poojary is expected to dent Congress' vote bank, particularly among Christian youth who make up a significant portion of the AAP's support. Even if AAP finishes in third place, it would not be surprising.

The issues that are dogging the constituencies are long standing and some of them are entwined with state and national level issues The lack of employment opportunities, severe drinking water problems in both urban and rural areas, and the non-development of amenities in the Malpe fisheries harbor are likely to be key election issues. Despite Udupi is home for Swarna river the successive legislators feld at home with the river and did not make attempts for finding alternative sources of water. This has pushed the city and few rural pockets into deep drinking water crisis which the people remember.

Farmers in the Brahmavar town are also concerned about the non-commencement of the defunct Brahmavara Cooperative Sugar Factory. However, the development of many interior roads has pleased voters with the BJP's government.

Udupi used to be a stronghold of Congress a few decades ago. In 1985 and 1989, Congress fielded Manorama Madhwaraj, the mother of Pramod Madhwaraj, who won both elections. In 1999, Congress fielded U R Sabhapathi, also from the Mogaveera community, who won the election.