As senior Congress worker Ashok D. came out of the counting centre after the final round of counting on Thursday afternoon, he was fuming after a loss by 249 votes to BJP candidate Kadri Manohar Shetty from Ward No. 33, Kadri (West).
“The former MLA did not help me in asking two Independents (Mevin Rodrigues and S.L. Pinto) to withdraw their candidature as I had spoken against his works,” Mr. Ashok alleged. A close close associate of M. Veerappa Moily, he had won from the ward for two successive terms. The two Independents together polled 250 votes, Mr. Rodrigues 217 and Mr. Pinto 33.
Admitting that the Congress lost at least 10 wards following internal bickering over selection of some candidates, a senior party leader, involved in selection process, blamed Mr. Ashok for the defeat.
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“He is one among the party councillors who remained silent during the 2018 Assembly elections where the MLA was defeated. He has paid for it,” the leader said and added Mr. Ashok was also facing anti-incumbancy. The senior leader said that former MLAs from the district and an MLC failed in arriving at a consensus in fielding the former Mayor Purandara Kulur from Derebail North, which would have put to rest allegations of sidelining supporters of B. Janardhana Poojary.
“They insisted on fielding Mallikarjun, who lost ,” he said. The party lost Ward 48, Kankanady Valencia, where the MLC’s close associate Ashit Gregory Pereira was fielded instead of sitting councillor Asha D’Silva, who, then moved to the BJP and lost Ward 39, Falnir.
The Congress also did not heed sitting councillor Appi’s request to field her husband from Ward 59, Jeppu, and instead preferred T. Honnaiah, who lost by 904 votes to BJP’s Bharath Kumar M. The party performed poorly in Ward 5 Katipalla North – where the former MLA, B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, resides. The candidate Fathima Umarabba stood third and Social Democratic Party of India retained seat.
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