Controversial activist Pramod Muthalik (Centre), who joined and exited the BJP within hours on Sunday
Bangalore:
When nearly half a dozen young women were dragged out of a pub in Mangalore and beaten up five years ago, India was forced to meet the Ram Sene.
28 of its members - who said they were acting as a moral police squad - were arrested.
Over the last 48 hours, two of them were recruited and then fired amid national outrage by the BJP and the Congress.
The more notorious, Sene founder Pramod Muthalik, said that since the BJP has refused to reconsider his dismissal, he will run for election from Dharwad as an independent. "For Hindutva," he said.
Mr Muthalik, 51, says he is now against violent protests - but that he will still do all he can to prevent the celebration of Valentine's Day in the country.
His associate Dinker Shetty spent a few hours as a Congress member before being dumped.
The Karnataka units of the Congress and the BJP felt the addition of these men to their ranks would bring benefits that rendered their seedy past passable.
Both Hubli and Mangalore, where these men were inducted, have histories of communal conflict.
In Hubli, the issue of whether to allow the raising of the national flag on Independence Day at the Idgah Maidan caused tension and violence for years.
Intelligence agencies also zeroed in on Hubli as a possible recruitment base for inducting young people into terror organizations.
The Mangalore region also has an uneasy communal history - and has sadly become associated with moral policing - the pub attack and an attack on young people celebrating a birthday at a homestay just being the most high-profile incidents.
In this environment, both parties seem to have thought that Hindutva would strike a connect with voters.
Prahlad Joshi, BJP president in Karnataka, told NDTV, "Muthalik was in our parivar for a long time and was working with us. In this election we decided everybody should be taken into party fold again. BJP is for Hindutva. It does not mean communalism."
For the Congress, Dinker Shetty represented a chance to challenge the tight grasp of the BJP on the powerful Shetty community of the Mangalore region.
And with Mr Shetty not being as well-known as Mr Muthalik, maybe they thought he would cross the party threshold without setting off an alarm.
Karnataka sends 28 members to Parliament. Leaders of the state units of both the BJP and the Congress say they are straining under the pressure to own seats for their party.
The Ram Sene acquisitions, ultimately returned to sender, were designed to catch a political break. The strategy didn't remain stealthy.
28 of its members - who said they were acting as a moral police squad - were arrested.
Over the last 48 hours, two of them were recruited and then fired amid national outrage by the BJP and the Congress.
The more notorious, Sene founder Pramod Muthalik, said that since the BJP has refused to reconsider his dismissal, he will run for election from Dharwad as an independent. "For Hindutva," he said.
Mr Muthalik, 51, says he is now against violent protests - but that he will still do all he can to prevent the celebration of Valentine's Day in the country.
His associate Dinker Shetty spent a few hours as a Congress member before being dumped.
The Karnataka units of the Congress and the BJP felt the addition of these men to their ranks would bring benefits that rendered their seedy past passable.
Both Hubli and Mangalore, where these men were inducted, have histories of communal conflict.
In Hubli, the issue of whether to allow the raising of the national flag on Independence Day at the Idgah Maidan caused tension and violence for years.
Intelligence agencies also zeroed in on Hubli as a possible recruitment base for inducting young people into terror organizations.
The Mangalore region also has an uneasy communal history - and has sadly become associated with moral policing - the pub attack and an attack on young people celebrating a birthday at a homestay just being the most high-profile incidents.
In this environment, both parties seem to have thought that Hindutva would strike a connect with voters.
Prahlad Joshi, BJP president in Karnataka, told NDTV, "Muthalik was in our parivar for a long time and was working with us. In this election we decided everybody should be taken into party fold again. BJP is for Hindutva. It does not mean communalism."
For the Congress, Dinker Shetty represented a chance to challenge the tight grasp of the BJP on the powerful Shetty community of the Mangalore region.
And with Mr Shetty not being as well-known as Mr Muthalik, maybe they thought he would cross the party threshold without setting off an alarm.
Karnataka sends 28 members to Parliament. Leaders of the state units of both the BJP and the Congress say they are straining under the pressure to own seats for their party.
The Ram Sene acquisitions, ultimately returned to sender, were designed to catch a political break. The strategy didn't remain stealthy.
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