Mangaluru: Claiming that Congress candidate Mithun Rai has misused the name of the Karnataka State unit of All College Students’ Association (ACSA) by falsely claiming that the Association is supporting him in the Lok Sabha elections, the ACSA members have now announced that the Association is not supporting him in anyway.
Mithun Rai had claimed in a Kannada newspaper, published on April 16 that the Association is supporting him. However, the office-bearers of the Association say that he had unilaterally made the statement, without consulting them.
The press release of the Association states that Mithun Rai has been running a pub in the city in close proximity to an educational institution, which in itself stands in violation of the rules. Mithun Rai has been using the students to appease the senior leaders of Congress, so as to receive political benefit from them and never fought for the cause of the students, stated the release, adding that the Association will stand by that candidate who will respect the nation and its values.
All College Students Association state vice president Astel Lobo, when contacted told newskarnataka.com that the association has remained to be an apolitical organisation over the last 28 years.
“Our association has fought when there were problems pertaining to students and never identified itself with any political party. When Kavya Poojary died under mysterious circumstances, Mithun never supported our agitations. Besides that, Minister D K Shivkumar, mentor of Mithun Rai insulted and sent back Kavya Poojary’s mother when she sought his help. Hence, our association will not support him. We fought against several issues like Yettinahole drinking water project, ban on Kambala etc, but our association has never taken a stand of supporting any political party,” he said and added that the association would in fact ask its members to cast votes for anybody but Mithun Rai.
