JOIN USAllam, Rizwan make it to Cong list for MLC elections
The Congress has picked former KPCC president Allam Veerabhadrappa, youth Congress president Rizwan Arshad, former minister R B Thimmapur and Veena Achaiah as the candidates for the Legislative Council elections from the Assembly.
Senior Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara, finalised these candidates on Saturday. The candidates are likely to file their nominations on May 31. The AICC released the list on Saturday evening.
The party has not finalised names for 3 seats to be filled through nominations.
Sources said Mohan Kondaji, G C Chandrashekar, P R Ramesh and C M Lingappa were also lobbying hard to become the party candidates, the election for which is scheduled on June10.
The choice of State Congress chief Parameshwara was G C Chandrashekar. But the party finally preferred to give a representation to the Youth Congress and hence selected Rizwan. Between Kondajji and Allam Veerabhadrappa, the party settled for a senior leader. Both are Lingayats.
Veena Achaiah was preferred as the party wanted to give a representation to Kodagu, which is now a BJP-dominated district.
She is now the chairperson of Karnataka State Handicraft Development Corporation. Thimmapur, who was minister in the S M Krishna Cabinet, belongs to the Scheduled Caste (Left).
BJP yet to decide
The BJP, which can easily win one seat, is yet to finalise the candidate. Though former minister V Somanna is the front-runner, names of D K Sadashiv and Subbanarasimha were also making rounds.
In case of the JD (S), party supremo H D Deve Gowda has announced that K V Narayanaswamy, a Brahmin, as the candidate for the council polls. Elections will be held for seven council seats from the Legislative Assembly. The Congress can win four seats while the BJP and the JD(S) can easily win one each. A candidate can win the seventh seat if either the BJP or the JD(S) manages to get the support of independents and MLAs of smaller parties. May 31 is the last date for filing nomination papers.
For nomination seats, names of businessman K P Nanjundi, film personality Bhavana, writer Baragur Ramachandrappa and former MLC Nazeer Ahmed are making rounds in the party. The Congress high command had authorised the Chief Minister and KPCC president to finalise the candidates, the sources added.