The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opened its account in Moodbidri with the victory Umanath Kotian, who defeated incumbent legislator K. Abhayachandra Jain on Tuesday.
Moodbidri had elected either Congress or Janata Dal or Janata or Swatantra Party candidates during the last 12 elections since 1962. Mr. Kotian also became a giant killer as Mr. Abhayachandra Jain was elected from Moodbidri for four terms starting 1999.
Earlier, K. Amarnath Shetty represented Moodbidri thrice, twice from Janata Party and once from Janata Dal. He had contested as Janata Dal (Secular) candidate subsequently without any success.
Mr. Kotian, who had lost to Mr. Abhayachandra Jain in 2013 by a margin of 4,550 votes, trounced the former Minister with a comfortable margin of 29,799 votes this time.
A businessman by profession, Mr. Kotian (53) initially had to face revolt by Jagadish Adhikari, who was unhappy with denial of party ticket. However, the party was able to assuage the grouse of Mr. Adhikari later. On the other hand, Mr. Abhayachandra Jain appears to have fallen prey to own web as he had initially expressed unwillingness to contest for the fifth term. He reportedly intended to groom Dakshina Kannada Youth Congress president Mithun Rai as his successor.
Many aspirants
On realising that the seat may become vacant, many Congress leaders, including Ivan D’Souza, MLC, and the former Mangaluru Mayor Kavitha Sanil, threw their hats on the ring. Consequently, the party reportedly persuaded Mr. Abhayachandra Jain to contest again to avoid any bickering within.
While Mr. Rai was incommunicado for a few days after tickets were announced, he later pledged to work for the party. However, all these appeared to have weakened Mr. Abhayachandra Jain’s prospects.
