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The Congress’ list of candidates for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections had little surprises, yet followers of some disgruntled ticket aspirants have begun protests across the state.
The list answers one of the most anticipated questions – whether Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest from two seats or not. The answer is no.
The list saw 84 percent of the sitting MLAs getting tickets again, and three children of serving ministers making their political debut. Only 6.8 percent of the total seats were given to women candidates. Besides, a total of 42 Lingayats candidates and 39 Vokkaliga candidates, members of the prominent communities in Karnataka, have been fielded by the Congress.
A decision on the six seats are still pending. This includes Shantinagar whose MLA NA Haris’ son is currently in judicial custody in an assault case.
Here are the highlights from the Congress’ list of candidates.
Siddaramaiah to Contest from Single Seat
Siddaramaiah, who was expected to contest from two seats, will be contesting only from the Chamundeshwari seat as he had earlier announced. Putting an end to speculations that he would contest from Badami too, Devraj Patil has been given the seat.
Party sources said that even though Siddaramaiah contesting from two seats was on the table, senior leaders in the party opposed the idea. They argued that the chief minister contesting from two seats would show the Congress as weak.
103 Sitting MLAs Get Tickets Again
In the first list of 218 candidates for the 224 seats released by the ruling party on Sunday, 103 of the 122 sitting MLAs have been given the tickets, i.e. 84 percent of the sitting MLAs of the Congress got a ticket for re-election.
Surprisingly, this included many ministers who were dropped from the cabinet in 2016, because of their non-performance.
And it was not only non-competence that was overlooked. HY Meti, who was embroiled in an alleged sex tape controversy, and KJ George, minister for Bengaluru development, who was booked by the CBI for alleged abetment of a police officer’s suicide, have been given tickets.
Other senior Congress leaders in the list include Kagodu Thimmappa, DK Shivakumar, Ramalinga Reddy, MB Patil, Roshan Baig, HC Mahadevappa, HK Patil, UT Khader, Umashree, B Ramanath Rai, TB Jayachandra, RV Deshpande, KR Ramesh Kumar, HM Revanna, Krishna Byre Gowda, Priyank Kharge, Speaker KB Koliwad, former minister MH Ambareesh, and Congress working presidents Dinesh Gundu Rao and SR Patil.
12 MLAs Denied Ticket
The Congress denied tickets to 12 of its MLAs.
The MLAs who were denied seats were NY Gopalakrishna (Ballari Rural), Chimmankatti (Badami), Makbul S Bagwan (Vijayapura City), K Shivamurthy (Mayakonda), Manohar T Tahsildar (Hanagal), G Ramakrishna (Gulbarga Rural), Basavaraj N Shivannnavar (Byadagi), HP Rajesh (Jagalur), BM Nagaraj (Siriguppa), GH Srinivas (Tarikere), K Shadakshari (Tiptur), and S Jayanna (Kollegal).
Three Ministers' Children Make Political Debut
Three children of sitting Congress MLAs have been given tickets.
Among the debutantes is Yathindra, son of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who will be contesting from Varuna, which is a stronghold of his father.
Santhosh Jayachandra, son of law minister TB Jayachandra’s son, has been given the ticket from Chikkanayakahalli in Tumakuru district where the Congress won by a margin of 10,000 votes.
The third newcomer is Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Soumya Reddy who has been given a ticket from Jayanagar.
Only 15 Women Get Tickets
A total of 15 women candidates, accounting for around 6.8 percent of the total candidates, were given tickets. Though the number is still low, this is more than the 2013 list when the party gave tickets to only 11 women leaders.
The prominent women leaders include former Bengaluru Mayor Padmavati (Rajajinagar), Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee women’s wing president Laxmi Hebbalkar (Belagavi Rural), IPS officer Hemant Nimbalkar’s wife Anjali Nimbalkar (Khanapura) and minister Umashree (Terdal).
All JD(S) Rebels Who Joined Congress Get Tickets
All seven ex-JD(S) MLAs, who joined the Congress last month, as well as MLAs from other parties who switched sides – Anand Singh, B Nagendra, Ashok Kheny and BR Patil, Satish Sail, Mankala Subba Vaidya – have been given tickets.
Decision on Six Seats, Including NA Haris' Fate, Undecided
The Congress is yet to announce candidates for six constituencies, including its candidate for Shantinagar in Bengaluru, after sitting legislator NA Haris’s son Mohammed Nalapad landed in jail after he was involved in a bar brawl in an upscale watering hole in Bengaluru.
The other five candidates who are yet to be named are for Kittur, Nagthan, Sindgi, Raichur and Melukote constituencies.
The Political Compromises
The Congress has refrained from fielding a candidate in Melkote as an ode to the farmer leader KS Puttannaiah, who passed away in February this year. His son Darshan Puttannaiah is expected to contest from his father’s seat under the flag of Yogendra Yadav’s Swaraj India.
Putting an end to the rumours of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, the president of the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, who had opposed the Siddaramaiah government’s decision to grant minority religion status to Lingayats, joining the BJP, the party has given him and his son tickets.
Even though the Congress has been attacking the BJP on the issue of corruption, Anand Singh from Vijayanagara, a former BJP legislator who was named in the illegal iron ore mining scandal, has also been given a ticket.
Denied Tickets, Supporters of Leaders Revolt Against Congress Leadership
Supporters of Congress aspirants Uday Kumar Shetty and N Sampangi from coastal Karnataka who had missed tickets blocked roads and staged mock funerals of Veerappa Moily holding him responsible for the ticket denial.
Similar demonstrations were held in Chikmagaluru by supporters of Gayathri Shanthe Gowda.
Anjanamurthy’s supporters in Nelamangala also took to the streets over their leader’s omission. Instances of party offices being vandalised by supporters of failed ticket aspirants have also been reported.
The most unexpected note of discontent came from Siddaramaiah’s legal advisor and party spokesperson Brijesh Kalappa. He was part of the legal team that represented the state in the closely watched Cauvery dispute case and is known to be someone who the party trusts for damage control.
Supporters of 10 sitting MLAs who were refused tickets are also rebelling against the party. This dissent, however, is something the congress had expected.
Supporters of Tipaturu (Tumakuru), Byadagi MLA Basavaraj Shivanna, MLA K Shadakshari, BM Nagaraj from Siruguppa (Ballari), Anjanamurthy, ticket aspirant from Nelamangala took part in demonstrations to express their dissatisfaction.
(With inputs from The News Minute)
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