The Hindu : Will Moily be able to upset BJP?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 22, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Will Moily be able to upset BJP?

By M. Raghuram

MANGALORE, MARCH 21. Finally the suspense over the Congress candidate for Mangalore Lok Sabha constituency is over. Now that the party has nominated the former Chief Minister, M. Veerappa Moily, as its candidate, its poll managers are working to get its act together.

However, campaigning will begin in right earnest till the BJP announces its candidate. It is not known whether the party will name V. Dhananjaya Kumar, member of the dissolved Lok Sabha, or D.V. Sadananda Gowda of Puttur. With the Congress having named its candidate, the BJP is left with no option but to announce its candidate as soon as it can.

In the 1999 elections, Mr. Moily lost by just over 6,000 votes and in the elections before that, B. Janardhana Poojary, now Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President, lost by same margin.

Mr. Moily has been cautious in his approach to the elections and he undertook an extensive tour of the eight Assembly segments in the Mangalore Lok Sabha constituency, including the five in Dakshina Kannada district (Ullal, Mangalore, Puttur, Vittla and Sullia).

A difficult task for the Congress is to galvanise the support of the upper castes in the constituency. There are 73,500 upper caste votes, nearly 75 per cent of which went in favour of the BJP in the 1993 elections. Mangalore, Vittla, Puttur and Sullia have 63,000 upper caste votes while Ullal has 4,000 followed by 6,500 in Virajpet, Madikeri and Somwarpet Assembly segments in Kodagu district.

The Congress also has to woo the Vokkaligas (1,32,000), the Idigas (97,500), Kodavas (77,100), Scheduled Castes (73,500), Scheduled Tribes (49,100), Christians (69,700) and Mogaveeras (15,000). The largest demographic group is still the Muslims (1,97,500) spread out in all the eight constituencies, with the largest number in Ullal (54,000) followed by Vittla (30,000).

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