Mangaluru: The MLC polls is throwing several unpleasant surprises for the Congress party. The Congress house has developed cracks over the matter of issuing ticket to the party candidate for the MLC polls. While Congress leaders Jayaprakash Hegde and Bhujanga Shetty filed their nominations on Monday, December 7 as Independent candidates, severing all their ties with the party, the next probable rebel candidate can be Harikrishna Bantwal, a Congress loyalist.
General Secretary and spokesperson of District Congress Harikrishna Bantwal, in a news conference on Monday said that he too will file his nomination as an independent candidate if the Congress party does not issue him a ticket to contest the polls, however, he would never think of shifting his loyalty to any other party.
He further said that since sitting MLC Prathapchandra Shetty, who is also the Congress candidate for the upcoming polls has not performed well, it is imperative for the party to issue ticket to an able candidate and if the party does so then he will withdraw his own nomination on December 12.
Opining that about 60 per cent of the Congress voters are from the backward communities, Bantwal opined that it is the duty of the oldest national party to provide opportunity and representation to this electoral majority.
Being a ticket aspirant himself, Bantwal said that over the last four decades he has been a loyal soldier of the party and over the last 33 years he has been associated with senior Congress leader Janardhan Poojary.
“I have only toiled for the party without demanding any posts and positions,” he said justifying his move to contest as independent candidate despite his mentor, Poojary opposing him in this decision.
Launching a scathing attack on Congress MLC candidate and sitting MLC Prathapchandra Shetty, Bantwal questioned as to what his contributions were after holding the position of an MLC over the last 12 years.
“It appears as though the incumbent MLC has only filled his own pockets,” said Bantwal.
