Karnataka: Janardhan Poojary's tears will sully party image, say leaders
MANGALURU: Veteran Congress leader B Janardhan Poojary, who recently broke down in public in the wake of an insult allegedly heaped on him by forests minister B Ramanath Rai, has caused much anxiety among local leaders as the former Union minister's tears could cost the ruling party dear in forthcoming elections to the Legislative Assembly.
Though Mr Poojary has lost a couple of times in Lok Sabha polls, he holds sway over voters belonging to Billava community, traditional supporters of Congress. In recent days, he has been ignored after he turned a bitter critic of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and his supporter Vinay Kumar Sorake was dropped from the ministry during a reshuffle last year. The video of Mr Poojary in tears has gone viral much to the chagrin of party leaders who fear it could impact the prospects of the Congress in the coastal region. Besides, his close associate, Harikrishna Bantwal, joined the BJP recently and has been repeatedly mentioning about Mr Poojary's emotional outbursts in public rallies.
At a function held at Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatheshwara Temple, Mr Harikrishna Bantwal spoke about district in-charge minister Mr B Ramanath Rai using abusive language while mentioning about Mr Poojary, thus hurting the sentiments of three-lakh odd members of Billava community.
A day after, Mr Poojary broke down while addressing a gathering at Garodi Sri Brahman Baidarkala Temple, saying he was hurt by insinuations hurled against him by Mr Rai. The video footage of this event with Mr Poojary in tears soon went viral in the region, causing unrest among members of Billava community.
“Mr Poojary in tears will definitely damage the party's image in the next election. Surveys have given us only two seats in Assembly elections. A section of Muslims has distanced from the Congress and is with SDPI. Though Billavas are traditional supporters of the Congress, in recent years they are drifting towards BJP. But the recent incident of Mr Poojary breaking down and blaming minister Mr Rai will further distance Billavas from the Congress,” a senior elected representative told Deccan Chronicle.
