MANGALURU: Is Fisheries and Sports Minister Pramod Madhwaraj on his way out of Congress to embrace BJP? While Madhwaraj himself has rubbished such rumours on several occasions in the last few months, they have refused to die down and not without a reason. The rumour mill has only gathered pace in the last few days as Madhwaraj was said to be reportedly not keen to have AICC president Rahul Gandhi address in his Udupi assembly constituency during his third leg of election campaigning in the state starting today.
Not just that, being the district minister he did not even hold a press conference to announce Rahul’s visit to the district while his counterpart B Ramanath Rai in the neighbouring Dakshina Kannada held press meets thrice over the matter.
Last week, a campaign vehicle of Madhwaraj that was moving around in his constituency was conspicuous as it had no pictures of Gandhi and Siddaramaiah or even the party symbol.All these factors have led to the speculation. But why join BJP? While his actions have puzzled many, political pundits feel that Madhwaraj is helpless given the allegation that he is facing regarding bank defraud.