UDUPI: Sri Laxmivara Theertha of Sri Shiroor Mutt, Udupi who had filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from Udupi assembly constituency has withdrawn his candidature on Friday. In a statement, he has said that he favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi's governance, and as central leaders requested him to withdraw his nomination papers in order to support the BJP's official candidate, he agreed to the same.
''I decided not to contest the election due to repeated requests from the BJP leaders as they said it would divide the votes,'' he said. Stating once again, that he wanted to contest the election on a BJP ticket from Udupi, but after the party announced Raghupati Bhat as its candidate from here, he filed my nomination papers as an independent candidate. The BJP was not doing a good job here, and I wanted to strengthen it. My intention was not to defeat the BJP but to get the party's attention.
''BJP leaders including union ministers spoke to me asking me to withdraw my nomination. I support PM Modi's initiatives especially International Yoga Day and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The coming elections in 2019 will be interesting,'' he added. He also said that in 2013 when he had supported Congress candidate Pramod Madhwaraj, he had done so because of his respect for Pramod Madhwaraj and not because of his party.
Commenting on this development on Friday, Udupi district BJP president Mattar Rathnakar Hegde said ''We are happy that Shiroor Seer has withdrawn his nomination papers. I thank God for this as we never convinced him to withdraw his nomination. Yes, we had told earlier that we will convince him, but later, the leaders of district BJP never had any discussion on the issue'' he said.
''We met him on the day of filing of his nomination papers on April 21. Due to poor health, he got admitted to hospital in Udupi. BJP party leaders met him there to enquire about his health. As far as I know, no one requested him to withdraw his nomination. I do not know what made the Seer to take this decision now'' he added.