B. Janardhana Poojary, a Congress veteran of nine parliamentary elections and who had served in the Cabinet of Indira Gandhi, has lost the election in Dakshina Kannada for the fifth time. He had represented the constituency in Parliament four times.
Mr. Poojary, 76, who attempted to appeal to the secular side of the people by blaming the BJP for communalising the region, had tried to highlight that the fight here this time was between him and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
The reason he gave was that the BJP was fighting the election in the name of Mr. Modi instead of highlighting achievement of the incumbent, Nalin Kumar Kateel.
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The Congressman, whose recent statements are being seen as his softening stance towards Hindutva though he denies it, had also hoped that constituency would back him considering that he would more effective in Parliament than his rival. In 2009, he had lost to debutant Mr. Nalin by a margin of over 40,000 votes. This time, he lost by 1.43 lakh votes.
Mr. Poojary, who stayed put at home in Bantwal on Friday, declined to give reasons for his defeat saying, “There is no point in talking about it now.” He, however, congratulated Mr. Kateel on his victory and said, “I bow before the verdict of the people”.
Mr. Poojary’s nomination as Congress candidate had became an issue when Union Minister M. Veerappa Moily openly backed his son’s candidature. Mr. Poojary had to face party’s internal election – called Congress Primary – to emerge as a candidate.
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