Congress May Ask Jaffer Sharief To Contest From Bangalore North
Bangalore, Mar 8 : Too many Congress seniors from Karnataka clamoring for tickets resulted in a deadlocked meeting of the screening committee in New Delhi on Saturday. The panel, which was to shortlist names, meets again on March 12.
With the Congress planning to pull out all stops to reach the two-digit tally, the panel reportedly could not arrive at any decision. It has to vet the list sent by the state election committee before forwarding it to the central panel.
“Ultimately, it appears all seniors will be asked to contest,’’ a Congress leader said. Earlier in the day, there was speculation that former BJP MP H T Sangliana’s name, who joined the party recently, had been cleared for Bangalore Central constituency and party veteran C K Jaffer Sharief ’s for Bangalore North.
No decision has been taken yet, though the buzz was that AICC chief Sonia Gandhi had reportedly told a delegation that Sangliana would be fielded. If the Congress fields Sharief from Bangalore Central, the JD(S) has decided not to field its nominee.
A surprise entry is said to be of former CM M Veerappa Moily, who may be asked to contest from Chikballapur, though he is a contender for the Dakshina Kannada seat.
It is learnt Margaret Alva is keen on the Uttara Kannada seat, while the sole name sent for the constituency is of KPCC president R V Deshpande’s son Prashant.
Two former MPs, Manjunath Kunnur and Shivanna, who defied their erstwhile party whips during the trust vote on the nuclear deal will be accommodated in their constituencies, Dharwad and Chamarajanagar, respectively. Meanwhile, a delegation led by M P Prakash and Allum Veerabhadrappa met Sonia on Friday seeking 6-8 seats for the Lingayats.
According to them, the Hyderabad-Karnatak and Mumbai-Karnatak regions are hemmed in by reserved constituencies with the number of general seats coming down, where Lingayats are in large numbers.
On representation to women, outgoing MP Tejeswini Gowda’s spat with KPCC working president D K Shiva Kumar, who is pushing for his brother D K Suresh’s candidature, has put the high command in a fix.
In Belgaum, the lone woman candidate Laxmi Hebbalkar is being supported by Lingayat leaders, but those opposed to Kumar are said to be scuttling it.
The panel held discussions with former DyCM Siddaramaiah, who was asked to rush to New Delhi at the last minute.
