Karnataka elections: Why BJP changed its four MLAs in the coastal belt?

The BJP denying ticket to its senior MLAs, leaders to prove that grassroots workers are its strength is not a new development during elections in the Karnataka coastal belt

The BJP which denied the party ticket to five of its MLAs, of whom three are seniors, in the coastal belt has continued to send the message that the party is supreme than an individual and it thrived on its organisational strength.

Of the MLAs who were denied the ticket, S. Angara, Minister for Fisheries, Ports and Inland Water Transport, had won from Sullia (reserved for Scheduled Castes) consecutively for six times.

K. Raghupathi Bhat (Udupi) and Lalaji R. Mendon (Kaup) were three-time MLAs. Sanjeeva Matandoor, first-time MLA from Puttur, was also a former president of Dakshina Kannada unit of the party.

Of the total 19 Assembly seats in the three coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada, the BJP had won 16 seats in the last Assembly elections leaving three to the Congress. It snatched one more seat (Yellapura) from the Congress in the 2019 by-election increasing its tally to 17 seats.

The BJP denying ticket to its senior MLAs, leaders to prove that grassroots workers are its strength is not a new development during elections in the belt.

A case in point is the 2018 elections where it changed its two senior leaders and got freshers elected. The party changed its four-time MLA (and six-time contestant) N. Yogish Bhat in Mangaluru City South and got a fresher D. Vedavyasa Kamath elected instead. In Mangaluru City North it changed its two-time MLA and Minister J. Krishna Palemar (third time contestant) and fielded fresher Y. Bharat Shetty, a dentist, who got elected.

Sources in the BJP said that the MLAs in Sullia, Puttur and Kaup were changed mainly due to anti-incumbency factors in those constituencies.