Pramod Madhwaraj snatches away Udupi constituency from BJP

Pics: Umesh Marpalli / Ivan Mascarenhas
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)

Udupi, May 8: Pramod Madhwaraj, who had unsuccessfully contested from Brahmavar and Udupi assembly constituencies earlier, has registered victory from Udupi constituency this time. Madhwaraj, who has been a political and fishermen’s leader since long, and has been conducting charitable works through his trust, and had headed the Paryaya Committee in 2010, had been rising in stature since long.

Speaking to mediapersons Madhwaraj thanked the voters in the district, irrespective of whether they voted for him or not. He also thanked his party workers and leaders including Oscar Fernandes, Jayaprakash Hegde and Veerappa Moily who campaigned for Congress in the district.

"I will do my best to keep up the people's belief in me. I will win the confidence of each and every person and we will try to fulfill the promises made in the Vision document and CMC Manifesto. The Congress Rajya Sabha member, Lok Sabha member, the state and the center will work together towards achieving this goal," he said.

"I will be loyal to my people," he added.

To mark his victory, one of his well-wishers at Kadiyali poured milk on Pramod.

Two-time MLA, Raghupati Bhat of the BJP, had earlier this year, chosen not to contest this assembly election on account of a sleaze video purportedly featuring him, which came out at the last minute. Therefore, the party decided to allot the ticket to Sudhakar Shetty, former district president of the party and chairman of Udupi Urban Development Authority. However, this move proved fatal for the party, as seen by the fact that the party has tasted defeat with a yawning margin. This has come as a big blow to the BJP, which had lost the last municipal election to the Congress.

As against 86,868 votes polled by the Congress, BJP could get only 47,344. JDS was far behind with a tally of 1,013.

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