Bengaluru: Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi on Saturday said that a delegation of ministers met and appealed to KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar to consider caste, region and contributions to the party as yardstick to finalise names for the elections to the 11 Legislative Council seats from the Assembly.
Along with Jarkiholi, B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan (Housing Minister), Priyank Kharge (Rural Development and Panchayat Raj), Krishna Byre Gowda (Revenue), MLAs Hampanagouda Badarli and H Y Meti met Shivakumar.
The election to 11 Council constituencies are scheduled for June 13. As per the strength in Assembly, Congress can easily win seven seats. The BJP can win three seats, while JD(S) can win 1 seat.
After meeting with Shivakumar, Jarkiholi said, “We have asked him not to pick candidates from Bengaluru region alone. Instead, he must give equal importance to caste, region and a person’s contributions to the party. The delegation asked him to take steps to pick candidates from minorities as they have been the party’s loyal vote bank.”
He said there are four claimants from the Lambani community to secure the ticket.
“Although the party had given tickets to the Lambani community during Assembly polls, none of these candidates won. So, we must give representation to this community. The party should also consider fielding leaders from microscopic backward classes, who could not win or do not have representation in either of the Houses,” the minister said.
Jarkiholi said Shivakumar must prevail upon the party high command to finalise the names based on these yardsticks.
The minister said CM Siddaramaiah’s son Dr Yathindra will surely be made an Upper House member as decided during the formation of the government.
“Of the seven seats we are going to win, the party will likely retain some of the members retiring,” he said.
Published 26 May 2024, 01:48 IST