Voices of discontent erupt over candidate in Karkala Congress

With just four days left for the last day of filing of nomination papers, the supporters of Uday Kumar Shetty Muniyalu from Karkala gathered in front of Udupi district Congress office in large numbers, demanding a ticket for Shetty.

They demanded that Shetty should be ensured justice. They said that Gopal Bhandari should not be considered as a Congress candidate for Karkala. “The party high command has offered a seat to a candidate who is a failure and rarely visits the areas in the constituency. He remained elusive in the past five years. He has not even called a meeting of the block level office bearers and his lackadaisical approach is intolerable. The party has become incapable of attracting the voters. The party has reached its worst ever condition under the leadership of Bhandari,” they said.

He has utterly failed to organise the party set up and is also responsible for the lack of coordination among the party members. He is least bothered about the party and its growth. The agitators alleged that he ruined the party and is responsible for the growing popularity of BJP in the Assembly constituency. He has ignored the party members and their work. Sadly, even booth committees were also not set up, they said.

They said the top brass in the party knew that there were lots of confusions in the party over the candidature for Karkala Assembly constituency. Despite the developments, veteran Congress leader Veerappa Moily failed to organise a meeting to feel the pulse of the members of the party in Karkala. They alleged that district election in-charge G A Bava and Bharat Mundodi have given false reports to the high command without actually conducting the survey.

“Uday Kumar Shetty had to plunge into the party organising work as Bhandari proved useless. Shetty worked right from the grassroots level. He was also able to lure the voters who supported BJP. He is capable of clinching a victory for Congress,” they said.

They questioned as to how the party could expect the members to work for Bhandari as they had already distanced themselves from him.

The protesters offered an ultimatum to district Congress president Janardhan Thonse that if the party fails to take a decision in favor of Shetty by April 23, he would be pressurised to contest as Congress rebel candidate.

A huge gathering will be joining hands to ensure that Shetty files his nomination as the official candidate of Congress, they said.