MANGALURU: The Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency has seen many veteran politicians like M Veerappa Moily, DV Sadananda Gowda, B Janardhan Poojary and others battle it out over the last few decades. Cut to 2024, the atmosphere is completely different. BJP candidate Capt Brijesh Chowta and his Congress rival R Padmaraj are testing electoral waters for the first time, trying to hold sway over the highly literate, but communally polarised electorate. Both the candidates are relatively young, educated, have a clean image and have no political baggage, which is a win-win for the voters.
The last time the Congress won from here was in 1989, when Poojary won for the fourth time. The BJP snatched the constituency from the Grand Old Party in 1991, and since then, it has never looked back. The Ram Rath Yatra changed the political fortunes of BJP here, and the party has managed to steadily increase its lead with every election. In 2019, BJP’s Nalin Kumar Kateel won by a massive margin of more than 2.73 lakh votes. The party also managed to win the constituency in 2014, when seven out of eight MLAs were from the Congress.
While the BJP appears to be in a solid position to continue its winning streak, the Congress is trying hard to breach the saffron party’s fortress. By replacing Kateel, a three-time MP, the saffron party has managed to address discontent within the party and anti-incumbency among voters.
Both the national parties are hard-pressed in building narratives that could help them win over the electorate. The BJP is banking heavily on the achievements of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government and Hindutva. Chowta has made development and Hindutva his mantra to win this election. The party claims that the constituency has witnessed development projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore in the last 10 years. It has alleged that the Congress’ guarantees have ruined the state’s finances, leaving no funds for development works.
On the other hand, the Congress, by fielding Padmaraj -- an advocate from the Billava community, is looking to woo the community which is numerically strong in the constituency. The Billavas, who were with the Congress once, have slowly moved to BJP over the years, and the GOP’s chances hinge on its success in bringing them back to the party fold. The party hopes that Padmaraj, who is also treasurer of the popular Kudroli Gokarnatha Temple, will be able to woo the community. He is also attracting BJP voters by stating that he is not averse to Hindutva.
The Congress is heavily dependent on the five guarantees of the Siddaramaiah government and the ones announced by the central party leadership in its election manifesto. The constituency has over 44,000 more female voters, compared to male voters, and the Congress hopes that its guarantees which target womenfolk will do the trick for them. The party has also termed the ‘Rs 1 lakh crore development’ in the constituency during Kateel’s tenure as “bluff”, asking if he really brought development, why was he denied the ticket to recontest, while also pointing to the incomplete work on National Highways in the region.