Congress Will Back Members Upholding Party Ideals: MLC Manjunath Bhandary

Congress Will Back Members Upholding Party Ideals: MLC Manjunath Bhandary

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Oct 19, 2025: Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president and MLC Manjunath Bhandary on Saturday reiterated the Dakshina Kannada district Congress unit’s support to the issues raised by IT and BT, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge against the RSS.

Addressing reporters at the party office in Mangaluru, Mr. Bhandary said the Congress would fully support all party workers who stand by the ideals of the party. He criticised former Media Advisor to the Chief Minister, Dinesh Amin Mattu, for alleging that local Congress leaders were mingling with RSS activists and hence not backing Mr. Kharge.

“We don’t need to open our chest to prove our support for Priyank Kharge. We have always stood by our workers who uphold the Congress ideology,” Mr. Bhandary said.

Refuting Mr. Mattu’s claims that RSS sympathisers were given Congress tickets in the 2013 Assembly elections—leading to the party’s defeat in most Dakshina Kannada constituencies—Mr. Bhandary clarified that tickets were given only to those who accepted the party’s ideology. “Victory or defeat is part of electoral politics; it has nothing to do with who got the ticket,” he added.

Responding to Mr. Mattu’s allegation that RSS activities were permitted in Sahyadri Engineering College, managed by him, Mr. Bhandary said no social or religious organisation had ever been allowed to hold programmes on the campus. He explained that “Shrusti,” an event organised during D.V. Sadananda Gowda’s tenure as Chief Minister, was a government-sponsored initiative by the District Industries Centre for engineering students’ project presentations. “No RSS meetings were ever held in the college,” he asserted.