MYSURU: Former MLA HP Manjunath on Wednesday filed his nomination papers as a Congress candidate for the by-election to assembly from Hunsur constituency. Manjunath accompanied by his mother Rathnamma handed over his papers to the returning officer. He will be filing another set of nomination papers along with B-form later.
Speaking to media, Manjunath alleged that “All the 17 disqualified MLAs wanted to face election after getting a cabinet berth. However, the Supreme Court in its verdict has succinctly said that “they cannot hold the office of profit in the run-up to election and are forced to seek a fresh mandate in the people’s court”.Manjunath said “The election has been forced on the people again, after MLAs resigned to fulfil their selfish motives. One such MLA AH Vishwanath (who had represented Hunsur from JDS before resigning with other MLAs), had stayed aloof from the constituency from past one-and-half-year. The people will give a befitting reply for resigning without any valid reasons”.
Alleging that every voter is upset with the disqualified MLA, Manjunath said "The forthcoming by-election has assumed significance in Hunsur taluk. The party will launch a campaign from November 15 and prominent leaders including Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, former deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and former minister DK Shivakumar and others will take part in the meet."
Earlier, Manjunath who went on a procession in the main thoroughfares of the town, garlanded the statue of former chief minister late D Devaraj Urs, also from Hunsur. He also visited the party office.