The Hindu

MANGALORE, Apr 4: With the announcement of Assembly elections in the State, the political activity in Dakshina Kannada gained momentum. The offices of major political parties are abuzz with activity, and prospective candidates lobbying for party tickets has begun.

There was anxiety among the political parties in the wake of some new challenges they have to contend with owing to delimitation. The geographical borders of constituencies, barring Belthangady, have changed and the number of constituencies in Dakshina Kannada has come down from nine to eight. Vittla constituency has been done away with. The names of a few constituencies have been changed. The erstwhile caste calculations have gone awry forcing the politicial leaders to reassess the situation.

The recent visit of the All India Congress Committee (AICCsd) general secretary, Rahul Gandhi, to the State, including Dakshina Kannada, heralded that party’s preparations for the poll while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nearly completed its process of forming 10-member booth level committees.

President of the district unit of BJP K. Monappa Bhandari said that such a committee had been constituted in the Bantwal region and the rest would soon be formed. Each committee would have three women and one person from Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes, he said.

The tour of AICC observer for Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts and former Assam MP, Vijendranath Sharma, on Tuesday and Wednesday, gave a boost to the party workers. Mr. Sharma met the office-bearers from Mangalore North, South, Surathkal and Gurupur blocks of the party. He toured Bantwal, Belthangady, Puttur and Sullia taluks on Wednesday. The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) observer B.L. Shankar was also in the district.

Lobbying for party tickets has begun too. The Congress district unit president B. Ramanath Rai said a list of aspirants would be sent to KPCC by April 6. Application forms were being issued to aspirants, he said.

More than eight high profile candidates were vying with one another for the Mangalore constituency, according to party sources.

The Congress leaders of the district have been striving to attract youth to the party, especially after the visit of Mr. Gandhi. Although the party had declared that Mr. Gandhi’s visit had nothing to do with elections, the party functionaries believe that it was an attempt at drawing the youth into the party. His visits to places of worship of different religions indicated the party’s reasoning in this direction, sources said.