The Hindu

MANGALORE, Apr 19: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Dakshina Kannada received a shot in the arm as a prominent Congress leader in Ullal joined the party with his supporters here on Friday. Some Muslims were among those who joined the party.

K. Monappa Bhandary, president of district unit of the BJP, inducted Chandrahasa Ullal, who was vice-president of Mangalore Block Congress Committee, formerly Ullal Block Congress Committee, to the party by offering the party membership receipt and a flag.

With this, the BJP’s hopes to snatch some Hindu votes from the Congress’ vote-bank. K. Jayarama Shetty, former BJP MLA, said that with the joining of Mr. Chandrahasa, the BJP would get at least 10,000 additional votes in Mangalore Assembly constituency. Most parts of the constituency were in Ullal constituency before delimitation.

Chandrahasa was a former Congress member in Ullal town municipality. Addressing a gathering at the BJP office, he said that he was joining the party as the Congress was not treating its workers impartially. He said that he was with the Congress for 25 years and built the party in Ullal without aspiring to become MLA. “Of late, the Congress has developed a culture of discrimination,” he said.He claimed that minorities, including Muslims, had faith in the BJP. The Congress in Ullal used Muslims for the benefit of the party and did not give them any benefits, he alleged.

Chandrahasa said that he wanted to join the BJP much earlier but waited till it declared its MLA candidate for Mangalore Assembly constituency. This was to avoid speculations that he joined the BJP with the objective of contesting from the constituency. In all, 12 Muslims from Ullal joined the BJP on Friday. K. Padmanabha Kottari, BJP candidate for Mangalore constituency, said that now he was confident of winning the Assembly elections.