Madhukara Mudradi, Shiv Sena candidate from Udupi Assembly constituency, said on Thursday that the BJP uses Hindus and Hindutva only for election purposes and later forgets about them.

Addressing presspersons here, he said it was because of the BJP’s constant neglect of the cause of Hindutva that the Shiv Sena had fielded 40 candidates in the State, including in Udupi seat. He said leaders such as Praveen Togadia, Pramod Muthalik and L.K. Advani, who had fought for the cause of Hindutva, have been suppressed by the BJP.

BJP, Congress: spot the difference

“The BJP was now more like the Congress. Persons such as former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna and former Minister Malikayya Guttedar, who spent years with the Congress and enjoyed all the fruits of power, have been inducted into the BJP while local leaders who strived for the party have been given a short shrift. The BJP is even seeing virtues in former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda,” he said. At the local level, the BJP has inducted the former Minister K. Jayaprakash Hegde into its fold. Mr .Mudradi said it was Mr. Hegde who had been a stumbling block to the development of BJP when he was the district in-charge Minister. Even the president of district unit of BJP, Mattar Ratnakar Hegde, was an import from the Janata Parivar, he added.

As far as Udupi Assembly seat is concerned, he said, both BJP and Congress candidates have some serious charges against them. “K. Raghupati Bhat, the BJP candidate, has brought disrepute to Udupi while Pramod Madhwaraj, the Congress candidate, has to answer questions about the loans taken by him,” he said.