Kundapur : With former BJP MLA of Kundapur Halady Srinivas Shetty deciding to contest the assembly elections as an independent and is also confident of a win, the BJP and the Congress is busy finding a suitable candidate who can  compete with a strong candidate like Halady.

Already Halady has made it clear that he will contest as independent and that he does not need the support of any political party. Halady who was a popular MLA of Kundapur quit his MLA post and then the BJP after he was disappointed when despite promise he was denied a cabinet berth.

Halady first won election in 1999  when he defeated Pratapchandra Shetty of the Congress. He also won the 2004 and 2008 elections . In his last election he defeated Congress candidate Jayaprakash Hegde  by a margin of over 25000 votes.

Shetty is to launch his poll campaign in first week of April.