Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, May 25: Addressing a victory rally organized on Sunday May 24 by the Mangalore assembly block committee of the BJP at Mudipu and Boliyar, newly elected Dakshina Kannada constituency Lok Sabha member Nalin Kumar Kateel thanked MLAs B Ramanath Rai and Abhaychandra Jain of the Congress party in addition to his own party workers, for the support extended by them for his victory.
"The voters of the constituency are behind my historical feat. I will get involved with the development of the district in way the voters will not lose the faith they have presently reposed on me. In the meanwhile, I express my gratitude to the two Congress Party MLAs who indirectly supported me," he added.
Former MLAs Jayaram Shetty, Padmanabh Kottary, district BJP president Monappa Bhandary and vice president Chandras Ullal too addressed the gathering.
Srikar Prabhu, BJP's local constituency committee general secretary Santosh Kumar Rai Boliyar, Mohanraj, Chandrashekhar Ucchil, taluk panchayat president Ramachandra Kumpala and scores of other leaders, corporators etc participated.
The remark immediately caused flutters in the Congress Party, as the two MLAs named by Nalin Kumar are widely believed to belong to the Moily camp. Nalin might have thanked them for the extra votes he could muster in those two constituencies, but Rai immediately sought to clarify that he has nothing to do with the comment. He said, the statement was made by Nalin out of his own imagination and that he would be contacting Abhaychandra Jain to seek his views.