From our special correspondent
Daijiworld media network
Bengaluru, Mar 30: With the imbroglio over the selection of ruling Congress party candidate for the Kolar reserved parliamentary seat remaining unresolved, the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC Chief D K Shivakumar, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister, have finally managed to break the deadlock by selecting a new face in K V Gowtham as the party candidate.
The selection of the Congress candidate for Kolar became a big headache for the party, which has been targeting winning at least 20 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the State, with Food and Civil Supplies Minister K H Muniyappa insisting on the party ticket to his son-in-law Chikkapeddanna.
But as many as five Congress legislators, including Higher Education Minister Dr Sudhakar, threatening to resign if Muniyappa’s son-in-law is chosen as the party candidate. Former State Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar is also opposing the family rule of K H Muniyappa, whose daughter is also a legislator.
Though Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar tried their best to reconcile the differences and reach a consensus, the factions led by Muniyappa and Ramesh Kumar chose to remain adamant. Finally, the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister managed to break the deadlock by choosing a newcomer in Gowtham, who does not belong to either of the factions and is recognised as a loyal party worker.
The Chikkaballapur seat, which was earlier represented by former Union minister and chief minister M Veerappa Moily, proved another headache as Moily insisted that he should be given another chance despite his defeat in the 2019 polls. The Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister have finally chosen youth Congress leader and former minister M R Sitharam’s son Raksha Ramaiah as he belongs to the backward Balija community with deep roots in the Chikkaballapur region besides a string educational institutions under the M S Ramaiah brand.
The Chamarajanagar seat has been allocated to Sunil Bose, son of Social Welfare Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa.
With the announcement of the names of the last remaining three seats, the Congress party has chosen candidates for all the 28 seats in Karnataka.
The three new candidates were distributed by the Congress party’s “B” form by KPCC Chief Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Saturday.