Uttara Kannada: Weak oppn may boost Anant Kumar Hegde's chances

Srinivas Naik, who runs a small shop in Sirsi, is not happy with his representative, Anant Kumar Hegde, five-time Member of Parliament from Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha constituency. The 59-year old, however, does not hide the fact that he will still vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as he believes one term was too short for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring about any change.

“What has he (Hegde) done for Sirsi? Nothing. I have not seen him at, nor did he offer any support when we pooled money to construct a temple. My sons are also unhappy with the BJP’s candidate, but we all have decided to vote for him,” Naik said.

Sirsi, in the Western Ghats with a sizeable Brahmin population, is home-town of Union minister for skill development and enterprise, Anant Kumar Hegde, a hardcore RSS man.

With statements such as “the hand that touches a Hindu woman must not exist” and calling Rahul Gandhi “a hybrid specimen” to promising removal of the “secular” word from the Constitution, the controversial politician has earned both praise from his supporters and ire from others.

Sathvik Shetty, an engineering student, said Hegde is not the best candidate, although he gets far more support in the constituency than senior Congress leaders, be it Margaret Alva or RV Deshpande. “His controversial remarks have done more harm for his reputation than good. But the constituency does not have a solid political leader in BJP — except Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri (sitting MLA from Sirsi) — or the Congress,” he said.

The BJP has renominated Hegde, 50, for the seventh time while the Janata Dal (S) has fielded Anand Asnotikar (38), a former minister. The Congress has extended support to the JD(S) candidate, although the regional party does not have any base in the district.

While Hegde is a formidable force in Uttara Kannada, the Congress — which has won here 10 out of 16 times — has not groomed a “winnable” candidate to contest against Hegde. Even the likes of veteran Congress leaders Margaret Alva, RV Deshpande too have given up, fearing loss.

Congress functionary incharge of Uttara Kannada, Shambu Shetty, however maintained that the party is working day and night to ensure Asnotikar’s victory. “When independent candidates are themselves hopeful of winning, why not our candidate, when we have a strong organisational structure here? When we are in the battleground and the war is on, we cannot say we will lose.”

A local Congress leader said the party’s high command decided to give the seat to coalition partner JD(S) as nobody was willing to contest.

“All those who were elected from the district never maintained contact with the people. It’s sad that we do not have a person who can take on a candidate who is as controversial as Hegde,” he said.