JOIN USThe ruling Congress has started feeling the heat of discontentment over the selection of candidates for the coming Assembly elections in the state.
Congress leader from C V Raman Nagar (SC Reserve) constituency in Bengaluru P Ramesh, who is aspiring to contest the coming Assembly elections, on Monday openly expressed his displeasure over Chief Minister Siddaramaiah projecting his close confidant and Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa as the party candidate from the constituency.
"People of the constituency want a local leader who knows about their problems to represent them. So, they will not support any outsider in the coming elections," he warned on seeking his reaction to reports that Mahadevappa will be the Congress candidate from C V Raman Nagar constituency.
Mahadevappa, who currently represents T Narsipur (SC Reserve) constituency in Mysuru district, is planning to shift to C V Raman Nagar in Bengaluru. The minister wants his son Sunil Bose to contest from T Narsipur, which is considered a safer Assembly seat for him to make an electoral debut. Siddaramaiah is said to have promised Mahadevappa that he will get him the party ticket for
C V Raman Nagar, which is presently represented by S Raghu of the BJP.
Ramesh, who lost the 2013 Assembly elections from
C V Raman Nagar by around 8,000 votes to Raghu, kept himself away from Chief Minister's Navakarnataka Nirmana Yatra convention that was organised in the constituency on Sunday. "Chief ministers come and go. But, the party is important. I am a sincere party worker and I am confident that the party will not betray me," he stated.
He also accused Siddaramaiah of misusing the tax-payers' money for organising Navakarnataka Nirmana Yatra. "It (Yatra) was neither the government function nor the party function. It was waste of tax-payers' money. So, I did not attend the event," he added.