Bengaluru: Congress ticket aspirant in the Karkala Assembly constituency in Udupi District, Manjunath Poojary ripped apart the Congress District and State leaderships and has gone to the extent of stating that the Central Screening Committe members have allegedly taken Rs. 2 Crore from each candidate to clear their names. This outbursts came up in a press conference after he was denied a ticket to contest from the Karkala Assembly seat from Congress party.
Taking exception for the party keeping out of the contest Poojary said the party had denied a ticket to him even after working for over 40 years without an expectation.
Apparently in a rage Poojary said “In Congress, those who have developed a party have been disregarded. The tickets are being sold for cash. I will resign from the party and its primary membership tomorrow and teach the party a lesson,” he said.
Manjunath Poojary is the President of the Hebri Block Congress and his close associates say that he had lost money heavily during the 40 years of his career in the party trying to develop the party in Karkala and Udupi District. His influence was not just in Karkala but also in other parts of Udupi District. He said the party has chosen Uday Kumar Shetty a contractor who has chummy relations with all the BJP top people in the District. Shetty is a contractor by profession and has working relations with a lot with the BJP Government functionaries. He has close connections with MLA Sunil Kumar, State President Nalin Kumar Kateel, and RSS Regional Head Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat.
“I have consistently supported the Congress party and worked sincerely to build the party, even during trying times. I’ve worked as a member of Congress for the past 40 years under the party’s ideology”.
Udaykumar Shetty responding to Poojary’s outbursts said “Poojary is still a big leader in Karkala, I respect him a lot and I hope he will be with me during the campaign and help me win”.