Kumta: The third list of BJP was released on Friday, in which it has announced the name of Dinakar Shetty as its candidate for Kumta-Honnavar assembly constituency in Uttara Kannada district.

The decision of the party has irked the supporters of Suraj Naik Sony and Yashodhar Naik, who were ticket aspirants for the seat. Shetty, who was elected as MLA in 2008 on JD(S) ticket, lost the 2013 polls by a few hundred votes. Later he joined the BJP and was a ticket aspirant for the constituency.

He is a strong candidate and has lot of followers here. It is said that during a popularity survey conducted by the BJP, the party found that Shetty was the winnable candidate in the constituency. Disappointed over the party’s decision, a few supporters of Suraj Naik Sony removed the BJP flag from villages and shouted slogans against Shetty and other leaders.

Sony was sent to jail recently for allegedly attacking cow smugglers near Honnavar. Sony, who is in Bengaluru, said he was working for the party for the last 15 years and put his efforts to organise the party at village level. But, the party has not recognised his efforts and gave ticket to a candidate, who came from another party.

In 2013 polls, Sony lost the elections to Congress candidate Sharada Shetty by a margine of 8,000 votes. It is said that Yashodhar Naik, who was also a BJP ticket aspirant, and backed by Union Minister Anantkumar Hegde, will now contest as an independent candidate in the constituency. Naik did lot of social women empowerment works in the constituency.

A lot of women in the constituency will support him. Therefore, Anantkumar Hegde was said to be supporting Naik. However, if the BJP slips over the ticket issue, it will benefit sitting MLA Sharada Shetty