Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, May 20: "The election result in Udupi constituency was unexpected. It was people’s decision, I will accept it. I have served the people sincerely and honestly without any discrimination," said former MLA Pramod Madhwaraj addressing the thanksgiving meeting at Congress Bhavan, Brahmagiri, here on Saturday, May 19.

"I failed not because of corruption, illegal activities, or ignorance of people or injustice. We won in defeat. I have executed maximum developmental works as a minister," he said.

"All district Congress leaders and party workers have worked day and night at the booth level. I did not make any mistake (willingly) as per the knowledge. People are the king makers in the democracy. I will not blame them for my failure, because they are the decision makers," he said.

"The reason for my defeat would be misrepresentation, lies and jealousy. But, I did not get defeated because of poor performance. I gave my best performance. I was a victim of misrepresentation. If the BJP gets victory by lies, it will not stay for long time. The live witness is B S Yeddyurappa," lashed Madhwaraj.

"If any of the Congress party workers get assaulted by opposition party people, I will not leave them. During Congress term, no such attacks were reported. If such attacks happen, I will sit for dharna in front of respective police stations," he warned.

When asked about Udupi MLA Raghupati Bhat’s promise to solve sand mining problem, Madhwaraj said, "If Bhat promised about solving the sand mining issue let him do it within a month. He must be fulfill all promises that he has made in election manifesto. Otherwise, I will hold dharna in days to come".

"Works like distributing RTC, housing sites and Varahi project are left pending and under progress. If he fails to complete them, I will not allow him to get-by. I will neither support nor give any scope for injustice, immoral and corrupt activities to take place in the district," he said.

"If people call me seeking solution to a problem, I will be rush to wherever they are within an hour. The state witnessed many changes after elections and I believe that anything can happen in the next 15 days. I will continue the public service as I did before and party workers will also serve the people. I will work hand in hand with Oscar Fernandes," he said.

"After this, I will go to every taluk panchayat, village panchayat office to listen to public grievance and will do work with even more zeal," he added.

Congress leader Janardhan Thonse said, "We are sad that we failed to stop the false propaganda against our party. That was one of the reasons for our defeat. Let us keep the spirit up and fight at the upcoming Legislative council election, municipality, and panchayat election. The party leaders will review result of Congress in Udupi," he said.

Satish Amin Padukere, Prakhyat Shetty, Amrith shenoy, Narasimha Murthy, Janardhan Bhandarkar, Veronica Cornelio, Dinesh and others were present.