‘BJP sidelined Hindutva’: Sri Rama Sene chief who wants to contest Karnataka election

Mangaluru: Sri Rama Sene chief Pramod Muthalik is planning to enter the electoral arena in Karnataka to ‘correct’ the BJP which, he says, has sidelined its Hindutva agenda.

Addressing reporters in Udupi on Saturday, Muthalik said he wants to represent the voice of Hindus in the state assembly and will announce his candidature and the constituency by this month-end.

Muthalik said he has conducted surveys in around eight assembly constituencies and will finalise the segment in which he would be contesting soon. Karkala in Udupi district, represented by state Energy Minister V Sunil Kumar, is one among the prospective constituencies.

The right-wing outfit chief alleged that Sunil Kumar is behind the foisting of false cases against him and other Sene activists. The BJP appears to be on the same line as Congress which always tried to demean Hindu workers, he claimed.

Apart from Karkala, the constituencies of Sringeri, Belagavi South, Dharwad and Terdal, Jamkhandi (Bagalkote) are also being considered for contesting the poll, he said.

Muthalik charged that hundreds of Hindu activists have been put in jail after branding them as ‘rowdy-sheeters’ by the police. If the BJP government is not ready to change their stand against Hindu workers, they will lose the support of the Hindu majority, he claimed.