Karnataka | Corridors of Power

BJP leaders in coastal Karnataka vie for Lok Sabha tickets, sparking political drama and speculation for 2024 elections.

Perhaps for the first time in coastal Karnataka, many BJP leaders have openly sought the ticket for contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Udupi-Chikkamagalur and Dakshina Kananda constituencies. Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Farmers’ Welfare and Food Processing Industries Shobha Karandlaje and former party chief Nalin Kumar Kateel, respectively, are now representing the two constituencies. The former Congress Minister Pramod Madhwaraj, who joined the BJP in 2022, and the former Udupi district unit BJP chief Kuilady Suresh Nayak too are lobbying for the Udupi-Chikkamagalur seat.

Kishore D. Suvarna, secretary of the All-India Fishermen’s Association, Udupi, has openly demanded the BJP ticket for Mr. Madhwaraj. In a video that went viral recently, he took Ms. Karandlaje to the task at a meeting in Udupi, questioning her inability to get the road connecting to Malpe Fisheries Harbour widened into a four-lane way. A visibly miffed Minister hit back at him.

For the Dakshina Kannada seat, the former State secretary of the BJP Backward Classes Morcha Sathyajit Surathkal and the former chairman of the Karnataka Fisheries Development Corporation Ramachandra Baikampady are aspirants. Mr. Surathkal and his fans held open meetings at Puttur and B.C. Road recently demanding ticket for him.

With so many aspirants, it would be interesting to see whether some will enter the fray as rebel candidates in case the ticket is denied.

Anganwadi workers of Tarikere taluk recently staged a protest, urging the State government to fulfil their demands. They visited the office of Tarikere MLA G.H. Srinivas to submit their memorandum. The MLA was not at the office. Instead, his wife, Vani Srinivas, accepted the memorandum. Not just that, she posed for the cameras while receiving the memorandum and also assured the protesters that she would bring the issue to the attention of those concerned through her husband.

For people in the Tarikere Assembly constituency, family members of Mr. Srinivas taking part in both private and official programmes is nothing new. For many days, the MLA’s wife and daughter have been attending events on his behalf. The legislator’s wife takes part in ground-breaking ceremonies of government works in gram panchayats, while his daughter Rachana holds meetings with members of gram panchayats on problems being faced by them.

Talk of “adjustment politics”, which had made a big noise in the run-up to the 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka, became a topic of banter during the Budget session of the State legislature. During the reply to the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address in the Legislative Assembly last week, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took a jibe at the BJP by saying that the party lost the Assembly elections despite “making Prime Minister Modi roam the streets.”