MUMBAI: For years, Kannadigas, especially the Bunt community, who have settled in Maharashtra for decades, have been playing a secondary role in the politics of the state, mostly promoting and financing certain groups, however this time, four of them have fought and won seats in the to-be-formed state Assembly.
In the last Assembly elections, only Congress candidate Suresh Shetty won from the Andheri East constituency and was also appointed as a minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government.
This time, along with Suresh Shetty, Congress gave tickets to two more Bunts, Jagannath Shetty from Sion-Antop Hill and Krishna Hegde from Vile Parle, while BJP also fielded its city president Gopal Shetty from the Borivli constituency.
All the four Bunts have won the elections with a wide margin.
Prominent Bunt from Mumbai, Chittaranjan Shetty feels that the Bunt community, which has been instrumental in developing the hospitality business in Mumbai and Maharashtra for over 60 years since their advent from Karnataka, will now play an active role in the administration and the state.