Mangalore: Ivan D'Souza Forerunner for Congress Ticket?
from Special Political Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore
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Mangalore, Apr 7: As the election fever has gripping the state, major political parties are busy in finalizing their candidates. Being a mid-term Assembly election in the State, the Election commission has already imposed strict campaign restrictions on candidates. Though individual candidates can spend upto rupees 10 lacs on election expenses, cut-outs, banners, huge advertisements and the like are prohibited. This move, first initiated and strictly policed by the then Election Commissioner Gopalaswamy has disappointed banner makers, printers, artistes as their short-term earning have been curtailed.
Such tough restrictions have now forced probable candidates to opt for more tougher methods like personally visiting homes, conducting rallies etc.
If we focus on the twin districts of coastal Karnataka, the BJP took a major share by sweeping the last Assembly elections. According to former minister Nagaraj Shetty, the BJP faces little hurdles when it concerns the section of candidates .But Congress leaders on the other hand have a herculean task in granting tickets to candidates.
In the current Assembly polls the total constituencies in DK district have been reduced from 9 to 8 (Belthangady, Moodubidri, Mangalore North, Mangalore South, Mangalore (Former Ullal), Bantwal, Puttur, Sullia).
Among the eight, Mangalore South has created a major sensation, as 9 congress aspirants submitted their application to the Congress high command. They are , Tejomaya, A J Shetty, Kallige Taranath Shetty, Suresh Ballal, Ivan Dsouza, Vijay Kumar Shetty, Mahabala Marla, Lancelot Pinto and Dolfy Prashant D'Souza.
It is estimated that 1,74495 are included in the voters list in this constituency. Daijiworld has learnt that about 70,000 minority voters are recorded here of which 45,000 form the Christian bank and 25,000 Muslims make the rest.
The Mangalore constituency has a history of fielding Christian candidates. During the 2004 assembly election Lancelet Pinto of the Congress lost to Yogish Bhat of the BJP by a narrow margin of about 5000 votes. The late Blasius D'Souza won from here and even earned a ministerial berth in the State cabinet.
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Ivan D'Souza, who joined congress prior to the 2004 assembly election is a forerunner in obtaining the ticket from Mangalore south constituency.
He seems confident as he is known for maintaining healthy diplomacy with all three major Congress leaders of the coastal belt, Oscar, Poojary and Moily who will eventually have the final voice in distributing the tickets in these twin districts Ivan D'Souza, speaking to daijiworld.com on Sunday said that, he has done his home work well. Striving for more than 18 -20 hours a day for the party, he sees no hurdle in getting the party ticket.
"A minority candidate has good chance to win election from here, as about 50 percent voters are belong to Minority communities.” he said. “But the biggest problem is that a good number of minority voters do not exercise their franchise.” He opined.
"This time we have set a proper plan to mobilize our campaign, and we will make sure that maximum number of voters turn to cast their votes" he said
"I am hopeful of getting a ticket, but you know this is a political field and anything can happen at any moment. I will work for the party irrespective of who gets the ticket.” said Ivan.
Ivan D'Souza who started his political carrier at the very young age first joining the Janatha party, later joined the JDS. When the JDS started losing popularity in the district, Ivan joined one of the oldest parties of India, the Congress-I in the year 2004.
Ivan faces stiff competition within the party. Suresh Ballal and Kallige Taranath Shetty are powerful figures within their respective communities.
According to sources, Lancelet Pinto has little chance to get the ticket as he failed to win the 2004 elections. On the other hand, Yogish Bhat
BJP leaders were heard saying that sitting MLA's will be automatically qualified for the ticket, but a few of the BJP leaders belonging to the Sangh Parivar have opposed this move of giving the ticket to Bhat again. A Section of the party workers are learnt to be un-happy about the performance of Yogish Bhat, as he was known to be friendly with minorities.
It may be recalled that Yogish Bhat had attended a huge rally called by Catholics in Mangalore in protest of an attack on a priest in Kundapur. This move of Bhat which irked the RSS and can be a pivotal point to eliminate Bhat from the race.
The father-son duo (Kumaraswamy - Devegowda) led JDS has very little impact to make in this election. According to political pundits, they will have to pay a heavy price for denying power to the BJP as per the agreement. Some experts say that the JDS may even lose their deposit in the forthcoming elections.
Daijiworld has learnt that, those leaders who distanced the RSS in the district will face elimination from getting a ticket. In Puttur, sitting BJP MLA Shakunthala Shetty is also believed to have been facing a similar wrath.