Has Cong self-goal handed BJP a windfall?

Mangaluru: Until recently, incumbent MLA Bharath Y Shetty was finding the going extremely tough in this communally sensitive constituency -- until Congress scored a self-goal at the eleventh hour and handed Shetty a lifeline that may now turn out to be crucial in deciding the result for this assembly seat.
The internal bickerings in the grand old party that followed after Congress ignored former MLA Mohiuddin Bava and chose Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Inayat Ali instead as its candidate, have handed an unexpected advantage to BJP in Mangaluru City North.

Miffed over the Congress cold shoulder, Bava, who had done a lot of groundwork after being reportedly assured of a ticket, cried foul against the Congress party -- particularly its state unit chief DK Shivakumar, accusing him of ‘trading off’ tickets -- and joined JD(S) in a surprise move.
Being a local resident, Bava is popular and has cultivated the voters in this constituency for a long time. However, according to sources, an internal survey commissioned by the Congress party put question marks against Baba’s winnability.
Now, if Bava manages to trigger a sizable split in the traditional Congress vote bank among the minority Muslim community, it can severely dent the prospects of the Congress candidate.
Communal issues have often turned out to be a flashpoint in this constituency, with Surathkal being quite a powder keg. A case in point is the revenge murder reported last year. Following the murder of BJP worker Praveen Nettaru, a temporary cleaner, Mahammed Fazil was hacked to death. Besides, the Deepak Rao murder case in 2018 is still fresh in public memory.
Apart from communal tension, there are several other issues in this constituency that need to be addressed. Though Mangaluru City North is an industrial hub, several areas within the constituency lack basic civic amenities. There is no government hospital and hundreds of poor, homeless families are still waiting for a shelter. Work on a housing project for the poor in Idya village was approved in 2017, but it came to a grinding halt later. The market project at Surathkal and Krishnapuram, initiated about six months ago, is yet to be completed.
In addition, there are complaints that though the constituency has several mega industries, unemployed youth from the area are not given preference in recruitment. Along with these issues, air and water pollution continue to affect the health of thousands in this constituency. Though several protests were held against big industries allegedly releasing untreated industrial effluents into the Phalguni River and Arabian sea, no action has been taken.
Abdul Muneer, a member of Nagarika Horata Samiti, said: “Though the constituency has several issues that need to be solved through government intervention or sanctions, people’s representatives and political party leaders are concerned only about communal issues for the sake of vote-bank politics.”