Saffron coat over Uttara Kannada’s green canopy

BJP has been consolidating its position over the years, while Congress seems to be losing its footing in the constituency

With about 75% forest cover, this is perhaps the only Lok Sabha constituency in the State that still has its greenery canopy intact. It also has an interesting history of noted Kannada writers and political heavyweights contesting to enter Parliament.

This time, the constituency is seeing a direct fight between Anantkumar Hegde, 51, the Union Minister and five-time MP from Uttara Kannada of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and Anand Vasant Asnotikar, 39, former State Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) candidate, who is supported by the Congress. Mr. Asnotikar, former Karwar MLA, is contesting the Lok Sabha election for the first time.

Rise of BJP

Though the BJP opened its account in Uttara Kannada after the Assembly elections in 1983 by winning the Kumta seat, it got its first Lok Sabha seat in 1996 with the win of Mr. Anantkumar Hegde. Since then, except in the 1999 election, Mr. Hegde has won this Lok Sabha seat.

The eight-month long communal riots in Bhatkal in 1993, the two yatras of the BJP – the then BJP president L.K. Advani’s ‘Ram Rath Yatra’ in 1990, and the next party president Murli Manohar Joshi’s ‘Ekta Yatra’ in 1991-92 – are said to have helped the rise of the party. The cold war between the families of seven-time MLA from Haliyal, R.V. Deshpande, and former Union Minister Margaret Alva is also said to have helped the BJP consolidate its position. In the past five elections, the Congress fielded Ms. Alva four times and Prashanth R. Deshpande, son of R.V. Deshpande, once.

Party workers, who were already unhappy over the party ticket being distributed only among the two families and not allowing second-line leaders to grow, are now more upset over the constituency going to the JD(S) candidate as the Janata Parivar has no history of winning the seat even once.

Many Congress workers have stayed away from active campaign against Mr. Hegde. Adding to it, Mr. Deshpande, who is also the district in-charge Minister, has stayed away.

Mr. Hegde, whose statements have often stoked controversies for its communal tone, is facing four criminal cases (for promoting enmity between groups, and violence against medical staff), and Mr. Asnotikar is facing a case related to violation of arms rule. Mr. Asnotikar, son of former Karwar MLA Vasant Asnotikar, who was murdered, won the Karwar Assembly seat as the Congress candidate in 2008. Soon after the election, he quit the Congress and joined the BJP in ‘Operation Kamala’ to become a Minister in the B.S. Yeddyurappa-led Cabinet. Later, he joined the JD(S) and lost the Assembly election from Karwar in 2018.

Issues of forest dwellers

About 60,000 people in the constituency are facing the threat of eviction from forest areas under the Forest Rights Act following a Supreme Court verdict which applied to 16 states across the country. Most of such families are in the upper ghat areas.

On the other hand, fishermen are apprehensive that the latest Coastal Regulatory Zone Rules, 2019 which will reduce the no development zone will displace them for taking up tourism development and other infrastructure development projects. Many of them residing the coastal areas do not have title deeds (ownership) over their land.