“There is no doubt about me contesting this election as an independent candidate,” declared BJP rebel candidate Biroor N Devaraj.

Addressing this newspaper, Mr Devaraj said that senior BJP leader D H Shankarmurthy had called him and held a discussion with him and tried to convince him.

Mr Devaraj said that he has already made it clear to Mr Shankarmurthy that there will be no deviation from his decision of contesting as an independent candidate. He said that he was disappointed with the fact that he has been deprived of the ticket even when the party had a chance to give it to him and added that BJP would have had lot of advantage if the party had fielded him as the candidate for Kadoor.