No unanimity in Cong on admitting BJP rebels

The Congress on Monday decided to hold space till November 13 for the Supreme Court to pronounce its verdict on the disqualification of the rebel MLAs, before it announces candidates for seven of the 15 constituencies slated for the bypolls.

The party also witnessed, again, a skirmish between a group of senior leaders and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah during a meeting to discuss the seven seats for which the party is yet to finalize candidates - Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Vijayanagar, Yeshwanthpur, Shivajinagar and KR Pet.

While BJP’s Raju Kage has announced that he will jump ship to the Congress to contest from Kagwad, another saffron leader Ashok Pujary is said to be seeking the Congress ticket from Gokak.

“We will finalize candidates based on the SC decision on November 13,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao said. Asked about Kage and Pujary, Rao said the party will decide only after the SC verdict “because various things are being speculated on what the outcome will be.”

Apparently, a section of senior leaders opposed the entry of Kage and Pujary, saying they will desert the party and return to the BJP if they lose.

They cited the example of how C H Vijayashankar returned to the BJP after unsuccessfully contesting the Lok Sabha polls as the Congress candidate.

According to sources, party seniors K H Muniyappa and B K Hariprasad demanded accountability on why action had not been taken against leaders who worked for the BJP during the recent Lok Sabha polls. Both of them lost the elections, and Muniyappa has alleged internal sabotage.

They also complained that they were not consulted on finalizing candidates for the first eight seats whose candidates were announced on October 31. To this, Siddaramaiah is learnt to have told them that the party will field their choice of candidates for the other seven seats and “you will have to take full responsibility of win and loss.”

There were also differing views expressed on fielding MLC Rizwan Arshad from Shivajinagar, given that he had lost the Lok Sabha polls from Bangalore Central twice. It was suggested that former union minister K Rehman Khan decide on the Shivajinagar ticket.

Separately, some leaders including D K Shivakumar, Krishna Byregowda and others huddled to discuss the Yeshwantpur ticket, where the party is looking for a Vokkaliga candidate.