Mohan Kuthar

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Dec 1: The District Congress leaders and workers are preparing the ground to wrest the Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency which has been eluding the party for the past 30 years. Minister Madhu Bangarappa, who is in charge of the District Lok Sabha elections, has proposed to focus on the upcoming elections and the party machinery during his visit to Mangaluru on Saturday, December 2.

The names of Ramanath Rai, a veteran warhorse of Bantwal, Inayat Ali, a Muslim leader figure on the top, followed by many other names. Many messages about this have been made viral by Congress workers on the social media. The question is whether MLC Harish Kumar would be a suitable candidate is being seen while Manjunath Bhandary is also said to be an aspirant to fight the elections on a Congress ticket.

Meanwhile, among the party workers, there are some favourites like M G Hegde, a rookie who vehemently flings ideological attacks at the BJP. Among the other Congress ticket aspirants who are in the reckoning include former mayor Shashidhar Hegde, woman leader Mamata Gatti, young woman lawyer Padmaraja and Bharath Mundodi of the Gowda community who is considered to be a thinker and an influencer in his community besides heading the party's district campaign.

There have been lot of discussions on the social media about fielding new names like Pratibha Kulai. Amid all these confusions, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel's seat from BJP also seems to be shaky and uncertain. There is also a possibility that Arun Puthila could contest as a rebel candidate against the  the BJP and with the likely absence of Brijesh Chowta and to sort all these confusions, the BJP may field MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary or another district leader.

Young Congress leaders sense an opportunity for the party to wrest the seat from the BJP due to confusions that exist within the BJP and only if strong orators jump into the fray. But this time too, if the Congress announces its candidate 15 days before the polls the party leaders feel the Congress may  continue to lose the seat.