The Hindu
CHICKABALLAPUR, Mar 31: The plans of the Congress high command to field former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily from Chickaballapur parliamentary constituency has met with severe opposition from senior Congress leaders.
Although the Congress has announced its candidates for most of the constituencies in the State, it is yet to name its nominee for Chickaballapur. Even though Mr. Moily, who hails from Dakshina Kannada district, is an outsider to Chickaballapur, Bangalore Rural and Bangalore Urban districts, the party high command is said to be keen on fielding him for Chickaballapur, sources in the Congress told The Hindu on Monday.
The former Malleswaram MLA M.R. Seetharam, who was a strong contender, is unlikely to get the ticket in view of all the Congress MLAs from the constituency opposing his candidature. Besides, All India Congress Committee general secretary B.K. Hariprasad and his team are said to have submitted certain documents against Mr. Seetharam to the high command, sources said.
Prominent Congress leaders have started putting pressure on the party high command not to field Moily on the grounds that he is an outsider and also belongs to a community that has no presence in the Vokkaliga-dominated constituency.
According to sources, some Congress leaders felt that the ticket should be given to a person from the Vokkaliga community. The constituency has around 4.5 lakh Vokkaliga voters.
Contenders
Two prominent leaders from the Vokkaliga community — Shidlaghatta MLA and former Minister V. Muniyappa and the Byatarayanapura MLA and State Youth Congress president Krishna Byregowda — have stepped up lobbying for the ticket. The two are camping in New Delhi.
Two other leaders from the Vokkaliga community, former Kolar Zilla Panchayat president Ashok Krishnappa and former Bangalore Rural district zilla panchayat president Rajanna, have submitted a memorandum to party leaders to give ticket to a Vokkaliga. Meanwhile, the Chickaballapur MP and former Union Minister R.L. Jalappa, who had propped up Mr. Seetharam’s candidature, has also expressed his displeasure over the move to choose Mr. Moily. On the other hand, Congress MLAs N.H. Shivashankar Reddy (Gauribidanur), N. Sampangi (Bagepalli) and Venkataswamy (Devanahalli) have expressed their support to Mr. Moily’s candidature.