Karkala: Congress candidate Gopal Bhandary filed his nomination papers in Karkala on Friday, April 20. He commented on the internal conflict currently taking place in Congress at a press meet at the party office on Thursday, April 19.

He says he does not have any personal problems with anyone, just ideological differences which are common. He is pained by the internal discord and says that politics in the district is witnessing things beyond his imagination.

He mentioned his humble beginnings in the world of politics. He thanked Verappa Moily and all his voters whose support has brought him this far. He declared that the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections would be his last. Mr. Bhandary seemed confident in his victory and promised to bring about development in his constituency.

He pointed fingers at BJP MLA, V Sunil Kumar, for creating fear of the tiger project and Kasturirangan report implementation among the voters the last time and swaying them. Bhandary got emotional recalling the incident where people burnt his effigy to express dissent at his selection for the assembly constituency.

Congress candidate Abhayachandra Jain filed his nomination paper to electoral officer, Prasanna V at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, 19 April.

Prior to the filing, Jain spoke to Congress workers at Swarna Mandir Moodbidri. He stated that Congress is the party for the oppressed. It will work for the betterment of the poor and the destitute.

Mulky block Congress president, Dhananjay Aminmattu, Moodbidri block Congress president, Valerian Sequeira, Moodbidri block Congress general secretary, Ratnakar C Moily etc. were present to extend their support to Jain.

Mithun Rai and MLA Ivan D’Souza who longed for a ticket were noticeably missing.

Jain conveyed his support towards Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stating that he’s a man of his word and one of a kind. He advised people not to trust BJP which has been repeatedly cheating people and stripping their powers away.

Former MLA, Vijay Kumar Shetty, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee member, Sampat Samrajya, zilla panchayat standing committee chairman, Sahul Hameed, members, Dharanendra Kumar, Pratibha Kulai, district women wing president, Shalent Pinto, and others were also present at the event.