Karnataka MLC polls: Congress list out, no ticket for floor leader

The Congress on Monday picked 20 candidates to contest the upcoming Legislative Council elections in a list that had some big names missing, including that of its floor leader S R Patil.

The election for 25 MLC seats representing local authorities is scheduled to be held on December 10.

The Congress has not fielded Patil, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council. Similarly, the Congress’ list excludes former Council chairperson K Pratapchandra Shetty.

The party, however, has given the ticket to senior leader and Gandhi family loyalist KC Kondaiah for his re-election bid.

“The list has been finalized after consulting local leadership. We have provided more opportunities to active party workers,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar said.

Shivakumar specified that the party had not sidelined Patil. “It was a decision taken by the state-level and national leaders."

He also dismissed talk that legislators were against fielding Kondaiah. “Yes, some people expressed their opinions. But [Kondaiah] got the ticket based on the opinions of local-level leaders. He’s a senior leader who sacrificed his Lok Sabha seat for (AICC president) Sonia Gandhi,” he said.

The Congress has fielded fresh faces in several seats: former Mysuru district health officer Dr D Thimmaiah (Mysore), Dr Mantar Gowda (Kodagu), MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar's brother Channaraj Hattiholi (Belgaum), Dinesh Gooligowda (Mandya) among others.

It is said that senior BJP leader SM Krishna, a former Congressman, had a role to play in ensuring the ticket to Dinesh, who was till recently Cooperation Minister ST Somashekhar's aide.

KPCC working president Saleem Ahmed will look for a re-entry into the Legislative Council from the Dharwad seat. Ahmed got the ticket as a reward for helping incumbent MLC Srinivas Mane in Hangal assembly bypoll. If Ahmed wins, he will take Mane’s place in the upper house.

In Bidar, the party has fielded former minister Rajashekhar Patil's relative Bhimrao B Patil replacing the incumbent Vijay Singh, son of former chief minister N Dharam Singh. In Kolar, the party gave the ticket to its former district unit chief Anil Kumar. In Bangalore, incumbent M Narayanaswamy got replaced by Yousuf Shariff.

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