Karnataka assembly polls: Aides seek tickets for ‘original’ Congress members in Mandya

MANDYA: Ahead of the release of first list of party’s candidates for the Karnataka assembly polls, a group of Congress leaders from Mandya have reignited the debate over ‘original and migrant Congressmen’.
Some Congress leaders met AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge in Delhi on Wednesday night and asked him to field only an original worker from the Mandya assembly segment.
In all, 16 aspirants have applied for Congress tickets to contest in the Mandya segment, which is one of the highest number of applications received by the party for any segment. As the party leaders continue discussions, 10 aspirants, who call themselves ‘original congressmen’ have formed a separate team. After presenting their case to KPCC president DK Shivakumar and former CM Siddaramaiah several times, they had met Kharge in Bengaluru two weeks ago.
During their meeting with Kharge at the Congress headquarters on Wednesday, the team headed by former minister MS Atmanand informed the party top brass that they all have worked for the party for 2-3 decades.
They told Kharge that they will face the elections unitedly and work hard for the victory of the party candidate. Mandya Congress leader Amarvathi Chandrashekar, who was part of the delegation that met Kharge, told TOI that they demanded that an original Congressman who has worked for the party for decades should be given the ticket.
The party high command will soon take a decision on the candidate, said Mandya District Congress Committee chief CD Gangadhar.