UDUPI: Sudhakar Shetty is the official BJP candidate from Udupi assembly constituency.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, sitting MLA Raghupathi Bhat announced that Sudhakar Shetty will contest in the election in the backdrop of him withdrawing to contest after the CD row.
Bhat said that the party’s senior leaders have decided to field Shetty and asserted he was not running away from the political warfare.
He said rivals resorted to damage his image and since there is less time left before him to prove himself, he decided to back Sudhakar Shetty.
“I have spoken to my supporters who are agitated by the CD row and Shetty is a consensus candidate. Bringing BJP back to power is my priority and hence I will work harder. The setback that that part faced in the urban local body elections will be taken as a challenge by the party,” he said.
Shetty, an hotelier, expressed confidence of winning the election. He has served as the chairman of Udupi Urban Development Authority from 2009 to 2012. He had lost against U R Sabhapathi in 1999. He had contested in Udupi assembly constituency in 2004 election as an independent candidate.
