After ‘ticket sale’ charge, Cong gets wary in 2nd list

With allegations of party tickets being sold on seats in Karnataka flying thick and fast, the Congress leadership has been forced to review its second list of candidates, reports Aurangzeb Naqshbandi.

With allegations of party tickets being sold on seats in Karnataka flying thick and fast, the Congress leadership has been forced to review its second list of candidates.

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In an unprecedented move, the party is learnt to have rushed a fresh team of observers to about 20-25 constituencies to get more details in the wake of the allegations.

This is not the first time that the Congress leadership has received such complaints. Just before the 2008 assembly elections in Karnataka, then Congress general secretary and now Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva had created a flutter by alleging sale of party nominations.

Supporters of aspirants from these seats have been protesting outside the party’s state headquarters in Bangalore for the past five days.

The party has already announced its first list of 177 candidates out of the total 224. The second list was expected anytime with the assembly polls almost a month away now.

In the first list, the central leadership has sought to do a balancing act by accommodating most of the loyalists of senior leaders. The dominance of any particular leader, group or faction in the distribution of tickets is not evident.

Only a few outsiders have been fielded as per the diktats of party vice-president Rahul Gandhi that rebels, discards or paratroopers from elsewhere should not be accommodated in the list. “Social justice and winnability have been the two key factors in selection of candidates,” said a senior central functionary.

Modi will campaign
Bangalore: Narendra Modi will campaign in five districts for Karnataka assembly elections, chief minister Jagadish Shettar said amid speculation on the extent of the Gujarat CM’s role in canvassing. There has been speculation that Modi may not like to involve himself deeply in the May 5 assembly polls in Karnataka. (PTI)