Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (DV)

Mangaluru, Sep 16: Bantwal Block Congress president Baby Kunder slammed BJP leader Harikrishna Bantwal for criticizing former minister B Ramanath Rai in a recent press meet.

Addressing a press meet at Congress Bhavan here on Friday, August 16, Baby Kunder said, “Harikrishna Bantwal will keep on changing political parties. He was an MLA ticket aspirant in BJP. But, the ticket was given to N Shivarao. Later, he was sacked from BJP. Then he joined A K Subbaiah's Kannada Nadu party. After quitting it, he joined Congress. Even from Congress, he was sacked.”

Kunder also said that Harikrishna should apologize for insulting the Kudroli temple stating that people will not gather in Kudroli to celebrate Narayana Guru Jayanthi organised by the state government.

He further said, “Harikrishna commented on Rai’s health. For his information, Ramanath Rai is a person who does yoga for 2 hours daily. Harikrishna stated that if Ramanath Rai wins the Bantwal constituency, he will retire from politics. Harikrishna does not have a proper identity in politics.”

Kunder also said that after contesting the MLC elections, he had won only 127 votes. “When he was the chairman of Keonics (Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation), he had assured of the creation of employment opportunities. He failed to create a single employment opportunity. But, he renovated his house spending Rs 2 crore,” he alleged.

He also said that Harikrishna has divided the Billawa community.

“A photo of Ramanath Rai garlanding Tipu Sultan statue was made viral on social media. BJP leaders Yediyurappa, Shobha Karandlaje and Jagadish Shettar too garlanded Tipu’s portrait in government programmes.

"Ramanath Rai will be the candidate and MLA in the 2023 elections. He made several developments in his constituency in his last term," Kunder said.

He also said that after Harikrishna joined Janardhana Poojary, the latter lost many elections.