Prasadraj Kanchan gets Congress ticket for Udupi

Mangaluru: The second list of the Congress for the assembly elections finds mention of only one aspirant’s name from the coastal districts.In the first list of candidates released by the KPCC, the party had confirmed the contest of eight aspirants from the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, where there are 13 constituencies. The second list with 42 names released by the KPCC on Thursday has a candidate from Mogaveera community, who will be contesting from Udupi constituency. The Congress has given the ticket to entrepreneur Prasadraj Kanchan, 50, who is an MBA graduate, to contest from Udupi constituency. Candidates announced by the party in the first list are former ministers B Ramanath Rai (Bantwal), UT Khader (Mangaluru), Vinaya Kumar Sorake (Kaup), Youth Congress leader Mithun Rai (Mulki-Moodbidri), Rakshith Shivaram (Belthangady), M Dinesh Hegde (Kundapur), K Gopal Pujari (Byndoor) and Krishnappa G (Sullia). The party had chosen new faces, Rakshith Shivaram, G Krishnappa, Mithun Rai and M Dinesh Hegde in the first list. Now, in the second list, the party has added one more new face by offering the ticket to Kanchan.Kanchan is the son of BB Kanchan and Sarala B Kanchan. Sarala Kanchan had contested as a Congress candidate for the assembly elections from the erstwhile Brahmavar constituency in 1999. However, she lost to independent candidate K Jayaprakash Hegde. Prasadraj Kanchan had served as the president of Udupi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and was also associated with various social activities. The KPCC is yet to finalise the names of candidates for Mangaluru City North, Mangaluru City South, Puttur in Dakshina Kannada, and Karkala in Udupi. Sources said that the party high command will finalise the names in the remaining constituencies cautiously as a tough competition is expected in these segments.