CM pulls up Congress MLA Bava over brother's candidature

The decision of the JD(S) to field B M Farook as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls has put Congress MLA Mohiuddin Bava B A in a fix.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has warned Bava that he will not get the party ticket to contest the next Assembly polls if his brother – JD(S) candidate Farook – does not withdraw from the fray. The chief minister threatened Bava at the Congress legislature party meeting held at the Vidhana Soudha on Monday, sources in the party said.

Bava is the party MLA from Mangaluru city north constituency, while his younger brother Farook, a realtor, has jumped into the RS election fray as the JD(S) nominee. The Congress legislature party meeting was convened to introduce the party’s candidates for the Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council polls.

Angered by Farook’s move, Siddaramaiah took Bava to task at the party meeting. When the MLA tried to wash his hands of saying he had nothing to do with his brother’s decision, the chief minister curtly retorted asking him why he had recently approached him seeking clearance of Farook’s wind-energy project if he had nothing to do with his brother’s affairs.

“The party has been facing embarrassment because of you and your brother. You should ensure that he (Farook) withdraws. Otherwise, the party will not give you the ticket to contest in the next polls (2018 assembly polls),” sources quoted Siddaramaiah as saying at the meeting.

The Congress would not find it difficult to get its first two candidates – Oscar Fernandes and Jairam Ramesh – getting elected. But the third candidate – K C Ramamurthy – would have to get non-Congress votes to win.  Sources said the Congress leaders had told Bava that his brother should back out in the interest of his political career. They even went to the extent of accusing him of joining hands with the JD(S) to embarrass the Congress in the Rajya Sabha polls.
DH News Service


‘Bava not at fault’
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara has said JD (S) candidate B M Farook was free to take independent decisions though he happened to be the brother of Congress MLA Mohiuddin Bava.

Parameshwara, while finding no fault with Bava, said that just because Farook was Bava’s brother, it didn’t mean he was not free to take “independent decisions”. Parameshwara said he was certain that the Congress MLAs would not betray the party. “All our MLAs are with us, including Bava. We are certain to win,” he added.