Congress list not out yet but Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's stamp upsets seniors

BENGALURU: The first list of Congress candidates for the assembly elections - likely to be released on Sunday after being put off twice - is expected to have six to eight new faces for Bengaluru, greater representation of women (from the previous 11) and kin of top leaders.

Overall, the list will have the stamp of CM Siddaramaiah, whose nominees are believed to have got the lion's share. Siddaramaiah's son Yathindra, PWD minister HC Mahadevappa's son Sunil Bose, daughter of Kolar MP KH Muniyappa, Roopa Shashidhar, and home minister Ramalinga Reddy's daughter Soumya Reddy are said to have made it to the list.

The yet-to-be-announced list saw its first casualty in former legislative council chairman VR Sudarshan, aspirant for the Kolar seat, who resigned as KPCC vice president. Former bureaucrat Zameer Pasha is said to have got the ticket. "Till yesterday, my name was in the list and has been replaced now," Sudarshan said.


Amid the discussions, former Union minister Margaret Alva's son Nivedith Alva, who was an aspirant from Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district in a statement said he was withdrawing from contesting following the death of his father.

Party sources said Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun M Kharge, MP M Veerappa Moily and Muniyappa expressed their unhappiness before the Central Election Committee. "JD(S) state chief HD Kumaraswamy had said Congress in Karnataka was the 'B' team of JD(S) and the CM proved it," an upset party leader said.

For Bidar (South), Congress sources said, Siddaramaiah had reportedly managed to convince the party high command to give the ticket to former Independent MLA Ashok Kheny despite stiff opposition from Kharge. The latter had opposed the admission of Kheny into the party and wanted the ticket to be given to late former CM N Dharam Singh's son-in-law Chandra Singh.

The list, which was expected on Friday, was held up as there was lack of consensus over nearly 32 constituencies represented by the party's MLAs. Besides, minority community members were peeved that they were being accommodated in constituencies where their chances of winning were not high. "They did not want Hebbal or Vijayanagar-Hospete or Khanapur where Muslim candidates have been defeated," a Congress source said.

In Bengaluru, KPCC president G Parameshwara wanted the Jayanagar seat to be given to UB Venkatesh, while home minister Reddy wanted it for his daughter. Muslim leaders too sought the seat as they count it among the winnable seats in Bengaluru. Reddy is learned to have prevailed though discussions were on till late evening.

Going by Rahul Gandhi's statement that he wanted to see more women in the parliament and assemblies, sources said winnability had been given a go-by and nearly 20 women would be picked.