Mangaluru: After the poll bugle was sounded, prominent contenders in the fray for the Dakshina Kannada MP seat have embarked on a religious run since the last few days. Religious places are bustling with activity day in and day out, as their administrators are leaving no stone unturned to facilitate religious services for the leaders.Since Tuesday, a day after both prominent candidates – Nalin Kumar Kateel from the BJP and Mithun M Rai from the Congress – submitted their nomination, have made it a point to visit a number of religious places each day, to acquaint themselves with the local populace from the respective community, and also develop a rapport with the priests, which in turn, is likely to fetch them brownie points.While pictures of Mithun visiting temples, churches, mosques and dargahs are making the rounds on social media, Nalin, a staunch Sangh Parivar man, too was recently photographed with bishop of Mangaluru diocese, Peter Paul Saldanha. However, the two-time MP is not meeting any Muslim religious leaders, which caused a controversy. Putting all apprehensions to rest, Nalin said he wasn’t looking at winning votes from any particular community, but had taken people from every religion into confidence. “I have so far not met any Muslim religious leaders. A qazi is currently on an overseas visit. We have sought an appointment with him, as I would like to seek his blessings. I give equal importance to people of all religions,” he said.Mithun, for his part, maintained that his visit to religious places in the last couple of days did not have anything to do with politics. “I am a secular person and I wish to seek as many blessings as possible. I visit religious places only to render service. There is nothing to read between the lines,” he said.The other candidates have kept a low profile until now.

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