Justin D'Silva

Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (MS)

Udupi, Apr 6: Internal friction erupted in the district Congress as soon as the candidate was announced for the Udupi legislative constituency on Thursday.

Young entrepreneur Prasad Raj Kanchan was given the Congress ticket for the constituency by the high command. However, other ticket aspirants were not pleased with the decision.

It is understood that there were three aspirants in the final list for the Udupi constituency, and Prasad Raj Kanchan was selected. However, other aspirants are not willing to accept the decision made by the Congress high command.

The final list for the Udupi constituency consisted of Prasad Raj Kanchan, Ramesh Kanchan, and Krishna Murthy Acharya. It is said that the party leaders did not consult all the aspirants before declaring the ticket. This has caused dissatisfaction among the other aspirants, according to sources.

Party workers are expressing their frustrations on social media. According to high-level party sources, who have informed Daijiworld Media, there is a possibility that a meeting will be held at the Congress Bhavan on Thursday evening by aspirants who were deprived of the ticket. During this meeting, future plans may be discussed in light of the party high command's decision.

Meanwhile, a meeting has been organized by the supporters of Krishnamurti Acharya at 5 pm on Thursday at the Mathura Chhatra Hotel located in the parking area of Udupi Krishna Mutt, and it is said that the next decision will be taken in this meeting.

'All ticket aspirants will work for party's official nominee'

"All the eight aspirants have decided to support the candidate which party gives ticket to" said Prasad Raj Kanchan, Congress candidate for Udupi assembly constituency.

In an exclusive chat with daijiworld.com after being announced as the candidate for the Udupi assembly constituency, Prasad said "We had collectively decided to support the candidate who has been selected by the party. There is no opposition or internal friction that has come to my notice till now. I will meet all the aspirants and request their support in my election campaign," he said.  

"I had heard that Congress is willing to give tickets to the young and educated candidate for Udupi constituency. So I approached the high command, and coming from a Congress family, I filed my application and expressed my willingness to contest. The party has considered my request today and have announced my name for the party ticket in Udupi constituency," he said.

Speaking about plans for campaigning and strategies for electioneering Prasadraj Kanchan said, "A huge number of voters are in favour of Congress in Udupi and it is not difficult for the party to win the elections. In the earlier elections, Congress was defeated by a narrow margin. We are planning a strategy to convert this into a winning number."

"I have been in this field for the last six to seven months and I have noticed that this time Congress will easily win. I am in direct contact with the voters and they have also expressed their views. The voters expressed their view that they need a new and educated person as their representative. BJP candidate list will also be known in a few days and we will plan our strategy accordingly," Prasadraj Kanchan said.