Pic: Abhijith N Kolpe
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (ANK)
Mangaluru, Jun 14: Former MLC and BJP leader Capt Ganesh Karnik on Thursday June 14 accepted his defeat in the just-concluded MLC elections and said that he respects the mandate of the people.
Addressing a press meet here, Capt Ganesh Karnik said, "I thank all the BJP representatives and the leaders for campaigning for the MLC elections. There were 12 candidates in the fray from southwest teachers' constituency. Compared to previous elections, I have got 2,500 more votes this time in the first preference counting. The difference was only about 897 votes between me and JD(S) candidate Boje Gowda who got 6,241 after the first preference counting."
He further said, "In my last 12 years of service, I have worked for the welfare of teachers and tried to sort out their problems as per their expectations. They stiil face several issues such as appointment of guest lecturers, differentiation in salaries, new pension schemes, less salary for guest lecturers and many more. I urge the winning JD(S) MLC Boje Gowda to undertake the problems of teachers and work to sort them out in the coming days. Kannada medium schools lack students and some schools face shortage of teachers especially in the coastal region. This issue also needs to be discussed."
MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Puttur MLA Sanjeev Matandoor, Mangaluru South MLA Vedavyas Kamath and others were present.