Pics: Umesh Marpalli / Ivan Mascarenhas
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)
Udupi, May 8: Kaup constituency, which showed early leaning towards the BJP during the counting of votes since today morning, tilted towards the Congress in later stages, before falling into its lap finally. Vinay Kumar Sorake, former MP, who was facing stiff competition from two-time MLA, Lalaji R Mendon of the BJP, and former minister and JD(S) candidate, Vasant Salian, emerged victorious with a slender margin.
The constituency had been mostly held by the Congress till 2004, when it went to BJP with the victory of Lalaji R Mendon. Mendon also successfully defended his post in 2008 election. This time around, Vasant Salian, who tasted two successive defeats, was hoping to get Congress ticket again. He had claimed that the party leadership had assured him a ticket, but at the last minute, the Congress chose to field Vinay Kumar Sorake.
Angered by this act and terming it as last minute betrayal by party leaders, Vasant Salian resigned from Congress and succeeded in securing the ticket of JD(S). But Salian could get only 3,162 votes against 42,282 of the BJP and 43,417 of the Congress. The constituency, with this result, has come back to the Congress after about nine years, in tune with such trend witnessed in most parts of the state.
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