MANGALURU: A press meet by B Janadhan Poojary, a veteran Congress leader, intended to drum up support for Congress, went terribly wrong for the party on Wednesday. Poojary, a former union minister, had kept himself away from campaigning during this election mainly because of his ill-health. However, with just two days left for campaigning, Mangaluru South Congress candidate J R Lobo managed to get him to address a press conference mainly to steer clear of a controversy surrounding the renaming of Light House Hill Road in Mangaluru.
When reporters started asking questions to Poojary, the veteran leader who is known to call spade a spade, predicted a hung assembly and also attributed it to the ‘arrogance’ of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and neglect of party workers by him. He, however, maintained that the incumbent CM has done a good job during his tenure. He also took exception to Congress fielding Ashok Kheny and Anand Singh. “To fight corruption, one has to lead by example,” he said.