Six rebels expelled from Congress

District Congress Committee President Veena Acchaiah said the decision to expel the leaders has been taken following the direction of the KPCC President. The expelled leaders are Humayun Begum who is contesting from Chennayyanakote ZP constituency,
Kusumavathi Venkatesh contesting from Gonikoppa, Jayanthi R Shetty contesting from Kadagadalu constituency, V P Shashidhar from Suntikoppa and Bhanumathi from Madapura constituency. Except Kusumavathi Venkatesh and Jayanthi R Shetty, other leaders are former Zilla Panchayat members.

Somwarpet Taluk Panchayat former Vice-President Geetha Basappa who has been contesting from Chettalli as a rebel candidate has also been expelled from the party.
Acchaiah urged the party leaders not to support the rebel candidates and work for the victory of the Congress candidates.

In fact, rebel candidates had become headache to the Congress. In the past, ZP former president V M Vijaya, Sanjay Jeevijaya, H B Jayamma who had won from Congress ticket during the last ZP election are contesting from JD(S) ticket now. Another member S N Raja Rao is contesting from BJP ticket from Bhagamandala. These members had joined hands with the BJP during the last term at Zilla Panchayat and have experience in administration. Though the Congress had urged the Election Commission to disqualify these candidates during the last ZP term, the cases are still pending before the Election Commission.