Vijayapura: The decision which is treated as a shot in the arm for the Congress, Bandenawaz Mahabari, the official JD(S) candidate of Vijayapura City has announced to retire from the election campaign and support the Congress candidate of the city.
Mahabari, who had secured JD (S) ticket just a couple of days before the last date for the filing of nomination, had rejoined the party about a few months before the announcement of Assembly polls. It may be noted that Mahabari had contested for JD(S) in the 2013 election, but he lost. He later joined BSP and contested another Assembly election unsuccessfully. Post that he kept himself away from politics, but suddenly joined the Congress in the 2018 elections. Interestingly, he quit the party within a fortnight.
Staying away from politics for next five years, he surfaced again and rejoined the JD (S) and secured the ticket.
Now, just about ten days before the election, Mahabari announced his retirement and announced his support to the Congress candidate, Abdul Hamid Mushrif.
“After holding consultation with the leaders of my community and looking at the weaker presence of the JDb(S) in the City, I have decided to retire and extend my support to the Congress candidate,” he said during a press conference.
Defending the decision, he said that there is no point in contesting polls when the party is bound to lose miserably in the polls because the party has no cadre and base.
When asked why he did not realise this factor before filing the nomination papers, Mahabari said that till that time, he had not studied the pulse of the people.
He also defended the decision by claiming that Former Chief Minister and JD (S) Leader H. D. Kumaraswamy himself had announced to extend support to the Congress where the JD (S) is weak.
“Instead of becoming a laughing stock by losing the election miserably, it is better to retire and ensure the victory of a better candidate. Since Congress shares similar secular values like the JD (S), so I have decided to extend support to the Congress,” he said.
To a question, he admitted that it was his personal decision and not of the party’s. He said that he was ready to face any disciplinary action if the party wanted to take action against him for his decision.
To another question, he claimed that he did not face any pressure that forced him to take the decision just ten days before the elections.
