The Lok Sabha election scene in Dakshina Kannada has gained momentum with a former bureaucrat of the Airports Authority of India, M.R. Vasudeva from the Aam Aadmi Party, set to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Nalin Kumar Kateel and B. Janardhana Poojary of the Congress.
Mr. Vasudeva retired as the Director of Mangalore International Airport at the end of October, 2012. He is one among the 13 candidates whose name was announced by the AAP on Monday in the first phase for April 17 elections in the State.
According to a release by the AAP, the 61-year-old Mr. Vasudeva is a post-graduate in Statistics (M.Sc.) and Business Administration (MBA). He is an ISO Lead Auditor. He is a visiting faculty of an engineering college at Mukka.
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He had served as aerodrome officer at the then Mangalore airport from 1989 to 1993. After getting promoted he had served as the director of the Mangalore airport from 2002 to 2009 (up to March) and from 2010 to 2012. He had served in various posts at the airports in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kozhikode.
Announcing the candidature of Mr. Vasudeva at a press conference here on Monday Prithvi Reddy, a member, national executive, AAP said that the party was fielding him considering his work from “concept to operation” in getting Mangalore Airport an international status
He said that the party convener Arvind Kejriwal would visit Mangalore before the end of March to campaign for the party.
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Mr. Vasudeva said that corruption had affected people of the country. He said that the time had also come to start demanding a separate Tulunadu state or a Karvali (coastal) state.
Opposing the proposed Nethravati diversion project he said that it would be “tampering with a resource given by the Nature”.