Jagadguru Fakira Dingaleshwar Mahaswami of the Fakkireshwar Mutt on Monday announced that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Karnataka's Dharwad constituency.
"I have decided to contest as an independent candidate from the Dharwad Lok Sabha constituency. The two national parties have fielded their candidates from the constituency for the elections," said the Fakkireshwar Mutt on Monday.
The announcement comes after the pontiff of the Mutt said that the seers from Karnataka convened discussion regarding Dharwad constituency's MP Pralhad Joshi of the BJP.
He said that Mutt heads unanimously decided to seek a change in the MP and have set a four-day deadline for this decision.
"We are not talking about the individual. The personality of the individual is really bad. Every community is unhappy with him. So, this decision has been taken...We will have to wait till April 2...We are not talking about the party, we are talking about Pralhad Joshi and his personality."
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However, Murugha Mutt later issued a statement saying that the Mutt has never been involved in politics. On Jagadguru Fakira Dingaleshwar Mahaswami's statement, the Mutt said that those were the individual decisions of the pontiff and not of the mutt.
In its statement, the Mutt said: "We don't endorse or support Dingaleshwar Mahaswami's statement about Pralhad Joshi. Murugha Mutt has been engaged in social services for decades and has never been involved in political activities and finalising candidature is decision of the concerned parties. We don't support Dingaleshwar Mahaswami's statement is an individual decision."