Sarvottama to contest for DK Kannada Sahitya Parishat'

Mangalore, March 10: With an objective of relieving Pradeep Kumar Kalkura from his position as the president of Kannada Sahitya Parishat district unit, which he had held for 10 years, a splinter group made public their decision to back some other candidate in the election for the post of the president.

Parishat former chief Harikrishna Punaroor, heading the splinter group, told reporters here on Friday that Sarvottama Anchan Mulki will be the next candidate for the district unit president post. Kalkura had been in the post for the past one decade. The allegation against Kalkura on misusing the post is the main reason behind the move to support other candidate, he added.

The president had failed to conduct the annual general body meeting for two successive terms. In an annual meeting , he failed to table the audit report of the parishat which has over 1950 members. His monopoly style of functioning had prompted many literary personalities to question whether the forum was a private body to be run at the whims of a single person, he charged.

Punaroor also declared Sarvottama Anchan as the next candidate who would be supported by taluk units of the KSP. He may not be a literary person but is a good organiser of many literature related programs, Punaroor clarified while defending their choice of candidate.

Pradeep Kumar Kalkura however denied all the allegations hurled at him and said he would hand over the post after he receives a letter from the Kannada and Culture Department. The allegations are being made to create controversy, he said.