BENGALURU: Convinced that he would not be getting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket to contest the ensuing Assembly polls from Shivamogga Assembly seat, BJP MLC and former Member of Parliament Ayanur Manjunath on Monday announced that he would tender resignation to the post of MLC and declared himself ready to contest from Shivamogga Assembly seat while challenging BJP MLA and former minister K.S. Eshwarappa to contest against him from the seat.
He, however, did not reveal the party would be joining to contest Shivamogga seat or enter the fray as an independent. But, speculations are rife that Ayanur would be joining the Congress party. Shivamogga is the BJP bastion and home turf of senior leader of the party and former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.
Manjunath, at a press conference in Shivamogga, invited Eshwarappa or his son Kantesh, a Zilla Panchayat member, to face him in the Shivamogga Assembly polls and win against him and challenged Eshwarappa to prove his leadership. He, however, appealed to Eshwarappa not to instigate people to contest the Assembly poll in Shivamogga seat.
“Don’t be a coward and run away from the challenge of facing the election,” said Manjunath and recalled a statement made by Eshwarappa against him wherein Eshwarappa had stated that ‘Ayanur Manjunath was no match to him.’
Ayanur Manjunath told the press conference that he took the challenge of Eshwarappa ‘seriously’ after his statement ‘Ayanur is no match for him’ and before making his decision to fight the Shivamogga seat, he said to have discussed with his friends and supporters to plunge into the contest.
Questioning the contributions of Eshwarappa as an MLA, Ayanur Manjunath said “He does not know what things should be done to the people?” and mocked Eshwarappa over his distribution of mosquito nets to the voters to deal with mosquito menace in Shivamogga city.
Continuing on mosquito nets, Manjunath said instead of taking measures to deal with mosquito menace, Eshwarappa talks of distribution of mosquito nets to the people and said that BJP is in power in Shivamogga City Corporation and MP belongs to BJP to deal with the problem of mosquito menace.
