In Manjeshwar, Kerala’s last assembly constituency bordering Karnataka, the sitting UDF lawmaker AKM Ashraf is fighting four Muslim and two Christian candidates out of 11 candidates in the fray. Two of them are his namesakes.
The Congress has deployed all its campaign muscle to retain Manjeshwar where its ally Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has a dominant presence. But this time around, Ashraf faces a tough challenger in BJP’s K Surendran.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah campaigned in Manjeshwar on Sunday, targeting the BJP and appealing for people’s support for the UDF candidate. The path ahead is not smooth for Ashraf even after the UDF has successfully got the SDPI off its way in the coastal seat. The presence of two Christian candidates also threatens to chip away at the community votes, a worrisome prospect for the Congress.
In Karnataka’s Davanagere South, 14 of 25 candidates in the fray are Muslims, including one from the socialist democratic party of India (SDPI). Such a large presence of Muslims is being interpreted as a reflection of the community’s anger towards the Congress after it decided to field the scion of Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s family rather than a Muslim candidate. It is the case of the local Muslims that the party has reneged on a commitment the late Shivashankarappa had made that the seat would go to a Muslim leader after his lifetime. Muslims, with an estimated 30% of the local population, form the majority in Davanagere South. The Congress has been worried about the BJP stoking trouble.
A day after his tour of Manjeshwar, Siddaramaiah landed in Davanagere South on Monday as a campaign by sections of Muslim groups and parallel efforts by BJP groups has kept the Congress on the edge. A defeat here would send BJP on an offensive resulting in terrible loss of face for the government.
