Mangalore, October 13: The BJP has begun its hunt for a worthy equivalent to challenge Congress heavyweight Ramanath Rai in Bantwal Assembly constituency.
The BJP is currently up against the challenge of fielding a powerful enough contestant against Mr. Rai especially after the departure of B Nagaraj Shetty, Former Minister, from the BJP. Attempts are being made to fulfill this void in the next four months.
Although rumours did rounds that Padmanabha Kottary may contest against Mr. Rai, voices from within the BJP have reportedly said that he is not the right candidate against the Congress veteran as he has failed to make an impact as the district president of the BJP. The party is likely to field Mr. Kottary against U T Khader from the Mangalore constituency where he did reasonably well last time around, it is said.
Businessman Jitendra Kottari on the other hand has been making attempts to get an election ticket from the past one year, it is learnt. He has made Bantwal his home from the past one year and has been engaging himself in social and religious programmes with greater enthusiasm, trying to draw the attention of the Sangh Parivar, it is said.
The BJP, like Congress, is also reportedly taking caste permutations into account and hence may field Bunt candidates to cash in on the Bunt influence on the Bantwal constituency. In the BJP's Bunt list, prominent names that feature are those of Santhosh Kumar Rai Boliyaar, ZP member, and Rajesh Naik Ulepady. Both of them are active members of the party and are also reportedly close to Prabhakar Bhat. Rajesh Naik has meanwhile said that he is not interested in contesting elections. Hence, Mr. Boliyaar's name is coming to the fore and although there are chances that he may get the post of Vice President of DK Zilla Panchayat, he may well be elevated to contest for the Assembly seat.
In the meantime, it is also being said that Sadananda Poonja, a staunch critic of Ramanath Rai within the Congress, is likely to contest elections from BJP against Mr. Rai.
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