What is common between Ananth Kumar and Mallikarjuna Kharge, other than the fact that the two old rivals are Lok Sabha members from Karnataka?
The two veteran parliamentarians have been, of late, busy giving final shape to the list of candidates being prepared by the BJP and the Congress respectively for the Bihar Assembly election.
Ananth Kumar, the BJP MP from Bangalore South, is party’s Bihar in-charge and one among the top five leaders who have played a key role in deciding BJP nominees. Kharge, unlike Ananth, is not party’s in-charge for Bihar polls but heads the Congress’ candidates selection committee.
This is the first time that Kharge, the leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, has been roped in to play a decisive role in a state like Bihar. Earlier, AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad was made in-charge of party affairs in 2010 Assembly polls.
Later, Hariprasad, who, too is incidentally an MP (albeit Rajya Sabha) from Karnataka, was given the charge of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. But with the Congress performing badly in 2014 Jharkhand Assembly elections, Hariprasad seems to be out of favour for the time being.Relatively, Hariprasad is a more experienced hand when it comes to Bihar elections as he had come to oversee the Assembly polls in Oct-Nov 2005 too, at the instructions of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Ananth Kumar too was made BJP’s Bihar prabhari (in-charge) for 2010 Assembly polls.
The two veteran parliamentarians have been, of late, busy giving final shape to the list of candidates being prepared by the BJP and the Congress respectively for the Bihar Assembly election.
Ananth Kumar, the BJP MP from Bangalore South, is party’s Bihar in-charge and one among the top five leaders who have played a key role in deciding BJP nominees. Kharge, unlike Ananth, is not party’s in-charge for Bihar polls but heads the Congress’ candidates selection committee.
This is the first time that Kharge, the leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, has been roped in to play a decisive role in a state like Bihar. Earlier, AICC general secretary B K Hariprasad was made in-charge of party affairs in 2010 Assembly polls.
Later, Hariprasad, who, too is incidentally an MP (albeit Rajya Sabha) from Karnataka, was given the charge of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. But with the Congress performing badly in 2014 Jharkhand Assembly elections, Hariprasad seems to be out of favour for the time being.Relatively, Hariprasad is a more experienced hand when it comes to Bihar elections as he had come to oversee the Assembly polls in Oct-Nov 2005 too, at the instructions of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. Ananth Kumar too was made BJP’s Bihar prabhari (in-charge) for 2010 Assembly polls.