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Madhwaraj’s BJP entry adds to ticket apprehensions in Udupi
Hours after resigning from Congress, the former Karnataka minister of fisheries, sports and youth empowerment joined BJP, along with other party leaders like two-term independent MLA and former minister Varthur Prakash, former MLA Kodihalli Manjunath Gowda, former Rajya Sabha member KB Krishnamurthy, and former JD(S) MLC Sandesh Nagaraj , in the presence of Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday.
The induction of Pramod Madhwaraj into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Congress in Karnataka has complicated equations in the Udupi district, about 400kms from Bengaluru, people aware of the developments said.
Hours after resigning from Congress, the former Karnataka minister of fisheries, sports and youth empowerment joined BJP, along with other party leaders like two-term independent MLA and former minister Varthur Prakash, former MLA Kodihalli Manjunath Gowda, former Rajya Sabha member KB Krishnamurthy, and former JD(S) MLC Sandesh Nagaraj , in the presence of Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday.
Madhwaraj, who enjoys a fair bit of popularity, has now added his name to the list of a growing number of ticket aspirants from the saffron party for the 2023 assembly elections. The party has, however, downplayed the notion.
“He (Madhwaraj) has not joined the party with any demands of being given a ticket. He subscribes to our ideology and has joined as any other party worker,” said one BJP leader from the district, requesting not to be named.
When he was minister, Madhwaraj was known to take his Rolls Royce around Udupi and even gave school kids a joyride, according to locals. His home, just off Malpe, is a local attraction as it is built on a large parcel of land and its front lawn is at least over an acre in measurement.
Unlike other parts of Karnataka, the three coastal districts -- Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada-- are where religion-based politics play out more than caste-based politics.
Before the hijab row, instances of moral policing and a pattern of political murders and attacks were common in the coastal parts, demanding a certain degree of matching ideologies to be even considered for a ticket from this region, people aware of the politics of these districts, said.
HT had reported in February this year that the tussle to be considered for the elusive ticket was one of the main reasons for flaring up of communal tensions during the hijab row in which students, no older than 18, were pitted against each other.
Udupi has five constituencies -- Udupi, Kapu, Byndoor, Kundapura, and Karkala -- and all five were won by the BJP in 2018.
The likes of Yashpal Suvarna, the controversial BJP leader, are among the aspirants for a ticket in 2023. He is also the vice-chairman of the Udupi Government Girls Pre-University College, the epicentre of the hijab row, and was instrumental in passing the initial order banning the headscarf inside classrooms.
“He has contested the elections four times and was saturated with the Congress, accepted our ideology and joined us. There was no assurance that he would be given a ticket and would come in as a common worker. That’s why he was welcomed,” Suvarna told HT.
“If I am given a ticket, I will contest in Kapu. But it is left to the party to give me a ticket or not,” he added.
Madhwaraj comes from an illustrious family. His mother, Manorama Madhwaraj, was a member of the Upper House of the state legislature, a minister in the SM Krishna government in 1999 and also a member of the Lok Sabha.
“I have not thought of it (contesting elections), and the party (BJP) has not offered it either. I can say that I have joined the party unconditionally,” Pramod Madhwaraj told HT on Sunday.
He added that his only aim was to help the BJP win 150 seats in the 2023 assembly elections.
In his resignation letter to state Congress president DK Shivakumar, Madhwaraj said that the situation in the Udupi unit of the party has been a “bad experience” in the last three years and was akin to “political suffocation”.
“I have observed that no worthwhile steps have been taken by the party to redress my grievances regarding the prevailing situations in the Udupi district Congress party,” he added.
Madhwaraj said that there were no vacant seats in the district on Saturday, which is only partly true.
Lalaji R Mendon is the incumbent BJP legislator from Kapu, and if recent statements by the senior leadership of the party are any indication, then sitting MLAs have no guaranteed ticket, and there are possibilities of giving others a chance.
Raghupathi Bhat, the incumbent MLA from Udupi, has some assurance, especially for playing a proactive role in the hijab row and is a Brahmin, leaving Mendon vulnerable.
Mendon and Bhat did not respond to calls seeking comment.
