Shobha will win by 40,000 votes: Raghupati Bhat

Team Udayavani, Mar 29, 2019, 11:37 AM IST

Udupi: “This time Congress supporters will vote for the BJP. There is pro-BJP atmosphere and our candidate Shobha Karandlaje will win by a huge margin of 40,000 votes. There is no enmity between me and Shobha,” said BJP MLA Raghupati Bhat here on Thursday March 28.

“Congress leader Pramod Madhawaraj has quit the Congress owing to his hunger for power and managed to get JD(S) Lok Sabha ticket by approaching chief minister H D Kumaraswamy,” he alleged.

“Several loyal Congressmen are disappointed with Pramod contesting as the alliance candidate in the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency. JD(S) has no voter base in Udupi. It does not even have a taluk panchayat member here. In Bengaluru North, the Congress succeeded in getting support after fighting unitedly and the party could have put in same effort in Udupi too,” he said.

“In the last assembly elections, the people taught a lesson to Pramod Madhwaraj for lying that he brought Rs 2,500 crore aid to the district. Pramod must clarify as to what he will do if he loses as he has already quit his party though he has not made his decision public,” he said.

Sand issue

“Pramod is directly responsible for the sand issue. I am ready to expose his involvement and I have evidence for it. During Siddaramaiah’s governance, Pramod pressured the district administration to ban sand mining. There should be a screening committee for sand extraction to avoid any legal hurdle,” said Bhat.

Water supply

“The DC must drop the decision to supply water only thrice a week as there is no shortage now. If there is shortage, take immediate measures of supplying it through water tankers,” said the MLA and also alleged that the DC did not take his opinion water supply thrice a week.