Udupi: The fight for Udupi Constituency in the Karnataka Assembly elections took a new turn as Sri Laxmivaratheertha Swamiji of Shiroor Matt withdrew his nomination. The pontiff who had chosen to contest the election as an independent candidate announced this decision in a letter on April 27.
In his press release to the media, the Shiroor seer said that due to repeated requests from the BJP, he was taking the decision not to contest the election. He said that there was truth in the BJP’s requests that the votes would be divided if he contested elections. As he did not want to defeat BJP in the elections, the decision to withdraw his nomination was taken, he reasoned.
It may be recalled that the pontiff had filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate on April 21 alleging that the BJP unit had not done good work in the district.
The seer said that he wanted to contest the election on BJP ticket from Udupi Constituency. As BJP high command decided to field Raghupathi Bhat as its candidate for Udupi, he said, he filed nomination papers as an independent candidate to highlight the woes of the people against the party.
Earlier, he had claimed that the BJP leaders of Udupi district had visited to request him not to contest in the election. He had replied to them saying that if Modi or Amit Shah requested him, he would withdraw the nomination, he said.
Praising the initiatives of the NDA government, the pontiff said that he was impressed by Prime Minister Modi’s initiatives like International Yoga and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. In order to support PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, he had withdrawn the nomination papers for Udupi Constituency, he added.
Further, he added that he had supported Pramod Madhwaraj in the 2013 election as a friend and not as the candidate of the Congress. He said, “I supported him (Madhwaraj) due to my respect for him, and not for the Congress party.”
