Mangalore, Apr 16: After long wait and much speculation, the Congress has finally decided on its candidate from Kaup constituency.
The ticket has been given to former two-time Congress MP from Udupi and current AICC secretary Vinay Kumar Sorake. The decision was made late night on Tuesday April 16, sources said.
Sorake had shifted his base from Puttur to Udupi after losing to Sadananda Gowda by a very thin margin. Later, he took active interest in national-level politics and won the Udupi Lok Sabha seat.
The battle for Kaup among the many aspirants had put the party in doldrums, hence delaying the announcement to the eleventh hour. Wednesday April 17 being the last date for filing nominations, the party has no time to lose. Sorake’s main opponent Lalaji R Mendon from BJP has already filed his nomination.
There were as many as 15 ticket aspirants from Kaup south and north, all of whom had been pushing hard to lay their hands on the ticket. Some of them even visited New Delhi in this connection, sources had said. The names of Vasanth V Salian and social worker Suresh P Shetty had been considered in a recent meeting in New Delhi, while Sarasu Bangera’s name under womens’ quota and Gafoor under minority quota had also emerged as possible candidates, sources said.
Finally, Oscar Fernandes had held a special discussion and short-listed the names to Vasanth V Salian, Suresh Shetty Gurme, Sarasu D Bangera, M A Gafoor, Harish Kini and Vinay Kumar Sorake. It is Sorake who finally bagged the prize.
