A day after factionalism surfaced in the Kolar unit of the Congress, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar huddled with legislators on Thursday to evolve a consensus candidate in the Kolar (SC) Lok Sabha constituency.
All the legislators agreed to extend support to any candidate announced by the party high command in Kolar.
On Wednesday, five Congress legislators, including Minister for Higher Education M.C. Sudhakar, had threatened to resign opposing the possible candidature of Chikka Peddanna, son-in-law of Minister K.H. Muniyappa, in Kolar.
Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar reportedly told the legislators that they would inform their views to the party high command. Sources said Mr. Siddaramaiah supported the candidature of Dalit leader M.C. Muniyappa belonging to the Scheduled Caste ‘right’ sect. A faction led by the former Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar and legislators too seemed to be supporting the candidature of Mr. M.C. Muniyappa.
AICC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge had apparently promised to give the ticket to Mr. K.H. Muniyappa’s son-in-law, who belongs to the SC ‘left’ sect. The former Rajya Sabha member L.H. Hanumanthaiah too had sought the ticket, but Mr. Kharge reportedly turned down his request, party sources said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Byrathi Suresh, Kolar district in-charge Minister, and Mr. Sudhakar said they had decided to abide by the high command’s decision on the choice of the candidate. Both of them said they would ensure the victory of any candidate finalised by the high command.
None above party
Earlier in the day, Mr. Shivakumar said there was no scope for individualism, and party leaders would work towards victory in Kolar. The Congress has not yet announced its candidate for Kolar.
The three MLAs from Kolar district — Kothur G. Manjunath (Kolar), K.Y. Nanje Gowda (Malur), and Mr. Sudhakar (Chintamani) — and two MLCs — Anil Kumar and Naseer Ahmed (political secretary to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah) — demanded that the ticket be given to a candidate from the SC ‘right’ sect.
Meanwhile, Mr. K.H. Muniyappa too held a meeting with his loyalists from the district and discussed the future strategy in the event of the party denying the ticket to his son-in-law. It is learnt that earlier in the day, his daughter, M. Roopakala, KGF MLA, too held talks with Mr. Shivakumar.
Bagalkot seat
Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar also held a meeting with the party’s rebel candidate Veena Kashappanavar, wife of Congress MLA for Hungund Vijayanand Kashappanavar, in Bagalkot. She is threatening to contest as an Independent since she has been denied the ticket.
She is upset over the party’s choice of Samyukta Patil, daughter of Minister Shivanand Patil. Ms. Kashappanavar secured close to five lakh votes but lost to the BJP in 2019.
Both the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister reportedly told her not to contest the election and she would be given prominence in the party in the coming days.
