Puttur, April 1: Supporters of Shakuntala shetty had a reason to enjoy today as the name of their favorite leader, a former BJP MLA has been declared as the congress party candidate for the Puttur constituency in the coming Vidhana Sabah election. It is said that after having met her mentor Rama Bhat on March 31, Sunday and had a lengthy discussion about her joining to Congress, she has taken this drastic step of joining Congress party.
Angered by party’s decision of not allowing her to contest after her first term as MLA,She had decided to come out of BJP along with her veteran leader Rama Bhat and others and formed a party called ‘Swabhimani Vedike’ with the support of resentful BJP leaders .She had contested under banner of “Swabhimani Vedike” as an independent candidate in the last election but had to lose at the hands of BJP Candidate Mallika Prasad.
According to the available news, JDS has tried its best to woo her in to party fold but she has flatly refused to join the party in spite of having offered her many offers and joined the congress instead at a function held at Bangalore in presence of Vinaya Sorake-former MP. Her name was then projected as a candidate from Puttur constituency. Along with her Kavu Hemanth Shetty-a businessman, Nabhiraj Jain, A Navin Bhandary and Bharat Mundody-former Zilla Panchayat member are also in the race from their respective constituencies.
It has been reported that Vinaya Sorake has sacrificed his seat and extended his support to Shakuntala Shetty in spite of having an immense pressure on him to contest. And also it is learnt that Hemanth Shetty has the support of Janardhan Poojary-former union minister, while Nabhiraj Jain is being supported by opposition leader Siddaramayya and Navin Bhandary has the support of M.Veerappa Moily-Union Minister.
The people supporting Shakuntala Shetty may be happy as of now because of party’s decision to field her as a candidate on Congress ticket. Although political opinions are changing very frequently and result is unpredictable. The people supporting her are very much optimistic about her victory in the ensuing election.
Report by : Shekar Moily
