Bommanahalli Cong ticket aspirant Kavitha Reddy slams 'injustice'

A day after being denied the ticket to contest from the Bommanahalli constituency, Karnataka Congress general secretary Kavitha Reddy hit out at what she called skewed candidate selection, but said would stand by with the party leadership to fight the longer ideological battle.

The Congress Central Election Committee, in its third list of candidates released on Saturday, picked Umapathy Srinivas Gowda to contest from Bommanahalli.

“I was denied a ticket in 2018 too. At that time, the leadership cited caste combinations as the reason and said I would be accommodated later. To someone who has put in 15 years of work in the constituency, this is grave injustice,” Kavitha told DH.

Also Read | Adani is a symbol of corruption, says Rahul Gandhi in Kolar rally

She said she kept “the fight” on and was hopeful of a ticket till the last lap. The snub is consistent with the treatment of women leaders across political parties, she argued.

For the upcoming elections, 109 women were reported to have sought Congress tickets. “It is unfortunate that independent women are sidelined to accommodate women who are related to male leaders. They also talk about winnability, but who decides that,” she asked.

Kavitha, while questioning the processes to identify candidates, said she would continue to fight her party’s bigger battles.

“The ideology is important – I’m very disappointed, but I have to keep quiet and fight the BJP,” she said.

In Bommanahalli, three-time BJP MLA M Satish Reddy is in the fray for a fourth successive term. Kavitha underlined the need to address the constituency’s severe infrastructure and mobility issues. She said she would also be travelling to Davangere and Hubballi-Dharwad for the party’s poll campaign.