Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JD/RJP)

Mangaluru, Dec 13: With the deadline to withdraw the nominations ending on Saturday December 12, the Dakshina Kannada MLC constituency which includes two coastal districts remains with 8 candidates fighting the final battle. The election will be held on December 27.

K Pratapchandra Shetty (Congress), Kota Srinivasa Poojary (BJP), S Prakash Shetty, Praveen Chandra Jain (JD(S)) and independents Jayaprakash Hegde, Harikrishna Bantwal, Alphonse Franco and Ismail Doddamane are the candidates remaining in race.

Jayaprakash Hegde and Harikrishna Bantwal are 'rebels' from the Congress party and have stood as independent candidates. Pressure from the party leaders including the chief minster to convince these two rebel candidates to withdraw candidature have failed to bear results.

On Saturday, Bhujanga Shetty from Congress, who had earlier filed nomination as an independent, withdrew from the race, pledging support to Jayaprakash Hegde.

Speaking to daijiworld after withdrawing his candidature, Bhujanga Shetty said, "We are supporting Jayaprakash Hegde because he is an active candidate and my support to him is only on this basis. He is hardworking, quite contrary to the Congress candidate (Pratapchandra Shetty)."

Asked if he had recieved any notice or warning from the party for going against the party's official candidate, he said, "Who are they to give notice? We built the party through our hardwork. We work for people."

Asked if any party leader had urged him to withdraw his candidature, he said, "Byndoor constituency MLA Gopal Poojary and an AICC member spoke to me over the phone and requested me to withdraw my candidature. I asked them if they were ready to correct their mistake."

When asked about his future plans he said, "Now we have to meet the voters of both Dakshina Kannada and Udupi and request their support for Jayaprakash Hegde. Elections are the first priority now. After the elections we will think about the future plans."

There are two MLC posts in this constituency and 14 people had filed 24 nominations. Apart from Bhujanga Shetty, five others withdrew their nominations, namely Shankar Kunder, Harish Kumar, Iqbal, Sanjeeva Matandoor and Abdul Jaleel.

Meanwhile Oscar Fernandes who was heavily criticised from some quarters for favouring the candidature of Pratapchandra Shetty has called voters to choose Pratapchandra Shetty only as he is the official candidate from the Congress party.