Karnataka Cabinet expansion: Heartburn in Udupi BJP

January 13, 2021
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In 2018 BJP had swept Udupi district by winning all the five seats
None of them have been named in the cabinet expansion

Udupi, Jan 13, 2021: The cabinet expansion in Karnataka has resulted in heartburn among many. While some have openly expressed their anger, some have shared their unhappiness with their supporters.

With none of the five MLAs from Udupi getting cabinet berth, BJP leaders in the district are sad. The situation in the Udupi district is a peculiar one. BJP had swept all the five seats in Udupi district but none of them have got a chance in the cabinet!

Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar took to Twitter on Wednesday morning.
“Loyalty to the party, development of the constituency and Hindutva is my agenda. I do not know any other means. I do not know how to play caste politics and never involved in blackmail to get a post. I will never tread this path in the future too,” was how Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar reacted on his Twitter account after his name did not appear in the list in the cabinet expansion.

ಪಕ್ಷ ನಿಷ್ಠೆ, ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ, ಹಿಂದುತ್ವ ನನ್ನ ಅಜೆಂಡಾ. ನನಗೆ ಅನ್ಯ ಮಾರ್ಗ ತಿಳಿದಿಲ್ಲ.

ಜಾತಿ ರಾಜಕೀಯದ ವೈಭವೀಕರಣ ಅರಿತಿಲ್ಲ. ಸ್ಥಾನಮಾನಕ್ಕೆ ಬ್ಲಾಕ್ ಮೇಲ್ ಮಾಡಿದವನಲ್ಲ. ಮುಂದೆಯು ಈ ಮಾರ್ಗ ಹಿಡಿಯುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.
— Sunil Kumar Karkala (@karkalasunil) January 13, 2021

Sunil Kumar is a three-time MLA from Karkala. In 2004 when he won the election for the first time, Sunil had appeared as a youth icon of the party in the Udupi district. With Bajrangdal background, Sunil was active in the Datta Peetha movement and had entered active politics.

It was a celebration in the BJP camp when the party swept all the five seats in the Udupi district in the 2018 assembly elections. When B S Yediyurappa led BJP government came to power the workers were eager to see which MLA from the district would enter the state cabinet.
But even after about two years since Yediyurappa came to power, none of the MLA in the district has got a chance.

MLC Kota Shrinivas Poojari, who hails from the Udupi district, and who was the leader of the opposition in the Council was the natural choice for BSY during cabinet formation.

Despite having five MLAs in Udupi district and seven in Dakshina Kannada, MLC Kota Shrinivas Poojari had entered the cabinet and none of the MLAs got a chance there is some relief in DK as six-time MLA S Angara has been named to take oath today.

MLAs of Udupi district:
Haladi Srinivas Shetty has won five times tops in the seniority list in the Udupi district. Shetty is known for his close association with the people and record margin which he maintained in every election. As he was denied a cabinet berth he had quit the party and contested the 2013 election as an independent candidate only to join the saffron party again and win the 2018 election with a BJP ticket.

Kaup MLA Lalaji Mendon, Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat and Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar have won three times each.

Sunil hails from the Billava community which is the strongest in the coastal district. Lalaji Mendon is from the fishermen community which too has a considerably good number of voters in the Canara coast. Raghupathi Bhat is a Brahmin.

Meanwhile, Byndoor MLA Sukumar Shetty has entered the assembly for the first time in 2018.