Mankal Vaidya is the fifth minister elected from the Bhatkal-Honnavar assembly constituency. Fifteen years ago, Shivananda Naik served as the Minister of Small Scale Industries, while before him, R-N Naik, the late SM Yahya, and the late Shamsuddin Jukaku also played their roles in the development of the constituency as Ministers of State.
A Congress wave has swept the Kalyana Karnataka region, the home turf of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. The Congress has improved its seat share to 26 from 20 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections. The party has won 63 per cent of the 41 seats in the seven districts.
With Rathod's candidature, the BJP is trying to strike a balance between the caste and the youth factor to swing votes in its favour. The party is also hoping to derive political brownie points through its recently reconfigured internal reservation matrix