Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Apr 19: Ruling Congress has been facing heat of the dissidence from candidates who have failed to get party ticket for the assembly election. The revolt is quite strong in about 35 constituencies, while in some constituencies, there is pressure on the party leadership to change the candidate already chosen and issue B form to others.

Taking note of the seriousness of the dissidence, national leadership of Congress party has entrusted the task of handling the revolt to party leaders including chief minister, Siddaramaiah. Reportedly, national president of the party, Rahul Gandhi, directly contacted some of the disgruntled leaders and spoke to them.

Still, several aspirants have been trying to bag tickets by putting pressure on the state and national leaders of the party while some more are preparing to enter election as rebel candidates, while there are some who are joining other parties.

Ramanath Rai & Oscar Fernandes

Supporters of Uday Kumar Shetty Muniyal, angered by the party's action in ignoring their leader, have been staging protests in Karkala. Ministers, Ramanath Rai and Mahadevappa, have been given the responsibility of mediating with the leaders and defusing the situation.

Supporters of district youth Congress president, Mithun Rai, had protested against the leadership's decision not to allot ticket to him. Rajya Sabha member, Oscar Fernandes, and minister, Ramalinga Reddy, have been given the onus of pacifying the detractors by holding talks with them.

The Congress leadership, which was not expecting backlash on such a large scale, is now worried about the ill affect the dissidence will have on the poll result. Therefore, the leadership has asked chief minister, Siddaramaiah, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, Dr G Parameshwar, leader of Congress parliamentary party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, minister, D K Shivakumar, and other leaders, to dissuade the rebels from working against the interests of the party. They have also been asked to put in efforts to convince those who have joined other parties to come back. The chief minister and working president of KPCC, Dinesh Gundu Rao, will be trying to appease Nadappa Muthappa from Madikeri, it is learnt.