Mattar Ratnkar Hegde, president of district unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said on Monday that many Congress supporters were embarrassed with the fact that they would have to vote for the Janata Dal (Secular) symbol in Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentary constituency.
Addressing presspersons here, Mr. Hegde said that this was because Congress candidate Pramod Madhwaraj was fighting on the Janata Dal(S) symbol in the constituency due to the strange seat-sharing agreement between the two coalition parties. “I sympathise with the predicament of the Congress,” he said.
Mr. Hegde said that Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had failed to give good governance in the State in the last nine months because of the constant squabbles between the coalition partners. This was in stark contrast to the governance given by B.S. Yeddyurappa as Chief Minister in the past, he added.
There was a general opinion in the country in favour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of his development track record and tough stand on terrorism. When the Pulwama terrorist incident took place, Mr. Modi gave a free hand to the armed forces to retaliate unlike the previous UPA government, he said.
BJP candidate in Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentary seat Shobha Karandlaje had done a lot of work such as establishing the Kendra Vidyalaya, opening the passport office and Gems and Jewellery Institute and concreting and widening the Udupi-Parkala stretch of National Highway 169A. “We expect Ms. Karandlaje to win by a margin of over three lakh votes,” he said.
There were no differences within the BJP. Even the BJP leader and one of the aspirants for Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentary seat, K. Jayaprakash Hegde, was campaigning for Ms. Karandlaje.
The fishermen community was supporting the BJP. Minister for Defence Nirmala Sitharaman had done her best in the matter of seven fishermen onboard a boat from Malpe going missing off Goa coast on December 15, 2018. Though it was now being believed that the boat had sunk, the spot where it sunk was yet to be identified, Mr. Hegde said.
Yashpal Suvarna, Kuilady Suresh Nayak, BJP leaders, were present.