Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik is thirsting for revenge. He has decided to take his fight to Bangalore South against Ananth Kumar where he aims to hit the five-time MP where it hurts - his Hindutva base.
The Congress camp, which is fighting against an RSS driven 'Modi wave', seemed almost jubilant when they confirmed the news of Muthalik entering the fray. Each vote Muthalik steals will be from Ananth Kumar's kitty. He has never hidden his ambition of becoming an important minister in the prospective Modi government. Indeed, Ananth Kumar's entire campaign has been about Modi's Gujarat and hardly about himself.
Muthalik's campaign manager, Anand, too has confirmed the news of the last-minute nomination. The Election Commission though is yet to confirm whether Muthalik's nomination has been accepted or not.
Sources, however, confirmed that Muthalik made use of a loophole in the election lawws that allows a candidate to file his nomination in absentia, provided he appears at 11am on the last date for withdrawing nominations. Both Congress and Sri Rama Sene campaign managers confirmed that he did visit Bangalore. He slipped away without meeting the media.
Muthalik had struck an ominous note in Dharwad when he declared that he is seeking the Hindu vote alone. It remains to be seen if he will repeat those lines in Bangalore which has rarely seen communal tension since the post Babri Masjid riots.
{{/usCountry}}Muthalik had struck an ominous note in Dharwad when he declared that he is seeking the Hindu vote alone. It remains to be seen if he will repeat those lines in Bangalore which has rarely seen communal tension since the post Babri Masjid riots.
{{/usCountry}}