Karnataka polls 2013: Congress in comeback mode?

Zee Media Bureau Karwar: While claiming that there is a strong wave in favour of Congress in the poll bound state, party leaders are trying to come back in region like Uttar Kannada, which is the home district of two senior Congress leaders - Margaret Alva and RV Deshpande. Uttar Kannada district came under the control of Congress in 1962, 1972, 1989 and 1999 when it won as many as five of the six constituencies. The exceptions were in 1994 when it did not win even one seat and 1983 and 1985 when it won only two seats. Earlier, Congress has faced tough competition from other parties like BJP, Janata Dal and Janata Party. However, elections in 2008 saw the Congress, BJP and JD(S) sharing the spoils with 2 seats each. But the balance changed when Anand Asnotikar, a Congress MLA joined BJP under “Operation Kamala,” and won the ensuing by-election on a BJP ticket. With this the strength of the BJP increased to three and the Congress fell to one.

This time, the surprise element is the newly formed KJP which has fielded some good candidates like former minister Shivananda Naik and former vice president of the zilla panchayat Gayatri Gauda. Congress sources said they are confident of winning three of the six constituencies with the party concentrating on issues like corruption in the state, infighting in the BJP and the failure of the government in launching developmental projects in the region.