Moodabidri: Out of the eight constituencies in Dakshina Kannada, Moodabidiri-Mulky (includes Jain Kashi Moodabidri) is one constituency which has always favored luck when it comes to elections. Irrespective of which party formed the government in the state, for the past four terms the voters of this constituency have voted incumbent MLA, Congress’s Abhyachandra Jain, a prominent leader from the Jain community.
But, this time around, all is not well for the Congress in this constituency. If the voting pattern is to be noticed, the vote percentage of Jain has gone down over the last four elections and during the last election, he won with a slender margin against BJP’s Umanath Kotian. Jain is set to lock horn with Kotian even this time.
Understanding the voters’ pulse and to avoid further damage to his image and party’s prospects, Abhayachandra Jain wanted to give his seat to Youth Congress President Mithun Rai who was almost visible in the constituency to pave his way into the hearts of the people. But MLC Ivan DSouza’s entry to claim the ticket put a reluctant Abhayachandra Jain back in fray.
Insiders say that killing of a Hindutva activist Prashanth Poojary in the constituency had taken toll on Jain’s image directly as locals alleged him of inaction and that was one reason behind him deciding to claim ‘sanyas’ from electoral politics. But, D’Souza’s entry into scenes irked Jain and this souring equation had brought disgrace to the party when the two washed dirty linen in open on couple of instances.
However, when it came to dissent, BJP was no different but the only difference was that the BJP could fire fight more efficiently than the Congress.
The decision of issuing ticket to Umanath Kotian, former Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy President had raked up dissent, but the party waded through it and soon the members of BJP put up a unity show and marched forward.
As political pundits say, the BJP always fights every poll as if it is the last poll and this constituency and this polls are not different. They are showing the voters that they are united and are aggressively making efforts to reach out to voters at the personal level over several rounds of door to door campaigning.
As far as JDS is concerned, the party which had a strong hold in the constituency has now disintegrated due to the differences that brewed within the house. JDS candidate till last elections, former Minister Amarnath Shetty used to contest here, and was able to play a major role in vote sharing as he used to take a major chunk of votes and was responsible for someone’s victory or someone’s loss. But this time his absence from the political scenes and issuance of ticket to Jeevan Shetty, a political novice may surely change the game altogether.
JDS rebel and Youth icon Ashwin Pereira is contesting as an independent candidate has made the contest here more interesting.
This constituency has the highest number of Catholic voters in the state. There is also a section of people which feels that a Christian candidate should have been given ticket by all the major parties.
If Ashwin Periera, who is a known figure in the youth circle of Moodabidri, irrespective of religious borders will be able to make hay when the sun shines, he is going to script new history.
All in all, it is most likely to be a triangular contest between Congress, BJP and Ashwin. With 7 candidates in fray, it would be interesting to see who the voters would prefer to become their voice.
Is it the politically matured Abhayachandra Jain and Umanath Kotian or new faces like Ashwin Periera and Jeevan Shetty or anyother candidates who will plant victory flag? The wait is not too long.
