Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Mar 22: On Thursday March 21, a meeting of the people who identify themselves as original Congressmen was organized at Ujire in the taluk, to take stock of the situation arising out of the announcement of election to the state assembly. Block Congress president, Harish Kumar, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) member, B Rajashekhar Ajri, block rural Congress president, Ramachandra Gowda, Lokeshwari Vinayachandra of women’s wing of KPCC, and several other leaders participated.

The meeting, through an unanimous decision, urged the party leadership to announce the name of Harish Kumar, block president of the party, as the party candidate for Beltangady constituency in place of current MLA, Vasanth Bangera. It may be noted that Vasanth Bangera, a former MLA, had crossed over to the Congress from JDS, and was fielded by Congress party in the previous election. Harish Kumar had been fielded as a Congress candidate in the past, but had lost.

It may be recalled that Vasanth Bangera, while being nominated for the previous election, had announced that he would support the candidature of Harish Kumar in the next election. However, he has changed his stand now, and is desirous of contesting the coming election again on a Congress ticket. There are allegations that during his tenure, Bangera used to differentiate between the original Congressmen and others, and did not favourably treat the demands from the original Congress people. He is also accused of using derogatory words towards them, and of levelling unfounded allegations against Harish Kumar.

The meeting gave a deadline of seven days to the party leadership to announce the candidature of Harish Kumar. It was decided to invite party leaders to visit Beltangady to make them aware of the grievances of the party workers, and if this is not possible, to send a delegation of original Congress members to the leaders to apprise them of the current scenario here.