Moodabidri: Congress, BJP units sore over candidate selection

Mangaluru: The candidate selection for Moodabidri constituency has left both the Congress and BJP camps unhappy. 

The BJP ticket contender Jagadish Adhikari openly expressed his unhappiness by locking the BJP office in Moodabidri while supporters and office bearers of the Youth Congress tendered their resignation after the party ticket was denied to district Youth Congress president Mithun Rai.

The BJP has fielded Umanath Kotian while the Congress has decided to put up sitting MLA Abhayachandra Jain. Expressing his unhappiness over the denial of ticket, Jagadish Adhikari said: "I had worked for the party and ensured that it stood at second place in Moodabidri in the 2008 polls. I could not contest the 2013 election due to personal reasons. But with the help of workers, I have built the party at all levels. The saddest part is that the official BJP candidate did not even come to the party office on Monday after he was declared the candidate. So I have locked the office," Adhikari told Deccan Chronicle. He said the building where the BJP office is situated, is owned by him and he has given it to the party without charging a rent.

As for the Congress camp in Moodabidri, Youth Congress presidents of all assembly segments and several office bearers tendered their resignation from the party. The leaders said that about three years ago, sitting MLA Abhayachandra Jain had promised the seat to Mithun Rai in the forthcoming election and Rai had been working in the constituency all these three years. But now the party has fielded Jain again. They added that they have decided to wait for Mithun Rai's next move.