Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Mar 24: On Sunday March 23, a number of workers, who had followed their leader, Halady Srinivas Shetty, and deserted BJP with him, came back into the BJP fold in the presence of Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency BJP candidate, Shobha Karandlaje.  This, it is felt, will boost chances of BJP, as Halady, who was miffed over the last minute deletion of his name from the list of ministers at the oath taking ceremony of Jagadish Shettar ministry, wields enormous influence in this constituency.

Six zilla panchchayat (ZP) members, eight taluk panchayat members, and members of town panchayat, under the leadership of senior leader, Kiran Kodgi, identified themselves with BJP, at a press conference organized by Karandlaje at Hotel Sharon here.

ZP members, Mamata R Shetty, Prakash T Mendon, Rashwat Kumar Shetty, Ganapati T Shriyan, Suneeta Rajaram, and Jyoti Shetty, taluk panchayat president, Deepika Shetty, Udupi taluk panchayat vice president, Gowri Poojarthi, taluk panchayat members, Raghavendra Kanchan, Bharat Shetty, Bhaskar Billava, Ramani Shedti, Parimala Shedti, Baby Poojarti, Saligrama town panchayat president, Sadhu, vice president, Sulata Hegde, and Kundapur municipal vice president, Nagaraj Kamadhenu, were among those who chose to support BJP.

Addressing the press conference, Shobha Karandlaje expressed happiness at the fact that supporters of Halady Srinivas Shetty had come back into BJP fold. She expected further boost to the party in the coming days, with the joining of more people, who had parted ways with BJP for various reasons.

Kiran Kodgi said that Halady Srinivas Shetty stays committed to his earlier decision to remain as an independent and not to support any of the parties in the coming election. He said he and his other friends decided to join BJP, after Halady told them they were free to do so.

Former minister, Kota Srinivas Poojary, Udupi district BJP president, Tingale Vikramarjun Hegde, Rajesh Kaveri, and several others were present at the press conference.