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Congress' poll panel holds key meet amid Karnataka rumblings
Polling for the 224-member Karnataka legislative assembly will be held on May 10. Last month, the Congress had released its first list of 124 candidates.
The Congress’s top poll panel, the Central Election Committee (CEC), on Tuesday held a marathon meeting to decide on the remaining 100 candidates for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, even as the party scrambled to project a united face amid simmering tension between the groups loyal to former chief minister Siddaramaiah and the party’s state unit chief DK Shivakumar.
Polling for the 224-member Karnataka legislative assembly will be held on May 10 and the votes will be counted on May 13. The Congress, on March 25, had released its first list of 124 candidate.
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The party has not yet released its second list for the upcoming polls in the crucial southern state. A party functionary privy to the CEC meeting said, “While there is a consensus on around 60 names, discussions are on to zero in on the remaining candidates.”
At the meeting, chaired by party president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi suggested that instead of a panel of aspirants, the CEC should discuss only a shorter list of candidates, preferably with consensus candidates, another party functionary said, requesting anonymity.
A Bengaluru-based party leader said that both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar camps have been trying to push their aspirants for the list of candidates.
On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah maintained that both he and Shivakumar are chief minister aspirants and the party legislators will elect their leader after the elections.
“I have said both of us are aspirants for the CM’s post. There is a wave in favour of the Congress,” Siddaramaiah said at the AICC office, minutes after the CEC met to pick candidates. “There is nothing wrong in a democracy to aspire for highest post (in a state government). But MLAs will elect their leader after the assembly election.”
Shivakumar, who also attended the meeting, said: “We all participated in election committee meeting. I think, more or less, 60-70% seats have been decided unanimously so far. We have all decided and rest will take some time to discuss the other issues. As rightly said, our aim is only to bring the Congress to power and we will deliver a good government, a government with the governance. We all stand together, we work together, and we will bring Congress party together.”
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Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala took extra care to avoid any distinction between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. “Congress Party has given a positive agenda under the leadership of Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar and other senior Congress leaders,” he said.
Surjewala also took a swipe at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka, saying, “We have authentic information that BJP is unable to select its candidates, for BJP’s ministers and MLAs are refusing to contest seats...Mass exodus is happening in BJP in Karnataka. About 10 MLAs, MLCs, ex-MLAs and ex-MLCs, their boards & corporation chairmen have resigned in dozens and joined Congress.”
