JOIN USThere is mounting pressure from the BJP central leadership and also the RSS on former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda to contest the May 5 Assembly polls from his home turf, Puttur in Dakshina Kannada.
The party feels that Gowda can regain some of the lost political ground in the region by contesting and winning the seat.
Gowda was elected from the Puttur Assembly constituency in 1994 and 1999. He became deputy leader of the Opposition in his second term as MLA. He later contested the 2004 and the 2009 Lok Sabha polls to win the Mangalore and Udupi-Chikmagalur seat respectively.
However, a lot has changed in Puttur in the last nine years. Shakuntala Shetty, a former BJP legislator from the constituency, fell out with the party and joined the Congress. Sitting legislator Mallika Prasad, as party insiders themselves admit, could not make much impact on the electorate during the last five years.
The BJP failed to gain majority in the Puttur Town Municipal Council (TMC) in the recent urban local bodies (ULB) polls.
The party managed to get 12 seats compared to the Congress’ 15 in the 27-member TMC.
The party also fared poorly in neighbouring Bantwal, Ullal, Belthangadi and Moodbidri ULBs. The Congress gained majority in all these ULBs. The BJP also lost the Mangalore City Corporation to the Congress. BJP sources said the party central leadership feels the candidature of Gowda from Puttur could help in stopping the Congress march further.
However, sources close to the former chief minister said Gowda is yet to decide on his candidature.
Gowda was not available for comments.