MANGALORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win the Ullal byelection with the help of women power, the party's Mahila Morcha leaders Shobha Karandlaje and Bharati Shetty said here on Saturday.

Ms. Karandlaje told presspersons here that several rounds of grassroots level campaigning in Ullal had given positive signals for BJP, as the women had expressed dismay over the Congress leadership neglecting issues concerning them.

Water problem

Ms. Karandlaje said that many villages in Ullal had no water connection and the nagar panchayat had to use tankers to supply water even during rainy season.

Why the MLAs and the previous governments did not take initiative to create a perennial water supply system for Ullal despite the Netravathi river flowing near the town, she said.

The women had complained that frequent communal clashes had left many families wrecked owing to the loss of livelihood, Ms. Karandlaje said.

Sea erosion

The women had also complained about the threat of sea erosion in Ullal. Ms. Karandlaje said that many fishermen families faced problem every year owing to sea erosion.

The people's representatives in the constituency had not found a permanent solution to the problem, she added.

The morcha had won the confidence of Muslim women in many areas in Ullal where BJP was unheard of till now, Ms. Karandlaje said and added that in areas such as Madani Nagar, Faisal Nagar and Alekala BJP campaign offices were managed by Muslim youth.

Meanwhile, Kerala-based Peoples Democratic Party will support "non-fascist" parties contesting the Ullal byelection, according to general secretary of the Karnataka unit of the party M.K.E. Abbas.

Decision on Monday

Mr. Abbas told presspersons here on Saturday that the party leader Abdulnaseer Mehdani, who was in jail in Kerala, would announce the party's decision on Monday.

Mr. Abbas said that in the last elections PDP had fielded its candidate and secured nearly 5,000 votes. That vote-bank was still intact with the party, he said.

Mr. Abbas and the party spokesperson Basheer Ahmad said BJP was the fascist party which PDP had decided to defeat in this election by supporting secular parties.

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