From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Jun 17: Congress party’s retiring Rajya Sabha member B K Hariparasad, who has all along confined himself to Delhi and national politics, has got the nod for contesting the ensuing elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council with former minister Naseer Ahmed as the Congress candidates on June 29.

The selection by Congress party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi has been announced by AICC General Secretary Mukul Vasnik.

With the Congress party being in a position to elect just two candidates based on its strength in the State Legislative Assembly, there was intense lobbying by several leaders including outgoing MLC Ivan D’Souza and Nivedit Alva, son of senior Congress leader and former Governor Margaret Alva, for selection representing the minority Christian community.

B K Hariparasad (left) and Naseer Ahmed

However, the selection of Hariprasad, who is retiring as Rajya Sabha member on June 25, and Naseer Ahmed, who is retiring as Legislative Council member on June 30, disregarding the claims of others is understood to have caused lot of heartburn and dissatisfaction among the party’s rank and file.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi cleared names of both candidates on Wednesday.

Out of seven MLCs, who are retiring on June 30, five belong to the Congress, They are Naseer Ahmed, Jayamma, M C Venugopal, N S Bose Raju, and H M Revanna.

All five members elected to the Council after the Congress returned to power under the leadership of Siddaramaiah in 2014.

Now, with the reduced strength of 68 members after the defeat in the 2018 Assembly elections and resignation of 14 MLAs last year, the Congress party would be able to elect barely two candidates as the required votes for each candidate is 28.

The ruling BJP, which is able to bag four of the seven seats with its strength of 117 MLAs, is yet to announce the names of the party candidates, though the State BJP Core Committee has already sent the names of its choices.

Disqualified MLAs, who had since joined BJP, particularly A H Vishwanath, R Shankar MTB Nagaraj are in the race. Of the three, Vishwanath and MTB Nagaraj had lost in the by-election as BJP candidates. Shankar is likely to get the ticket.

The JD(S) with 34 members is in a position to elect one member and party national president H D Deve Gowda has been authorized to announce the name. Former Rajya Sabha member Kupendra Reddy and retiring MLC T A Saravana are top contenders though former MLA Y S V Datta is believed to be a dark horse for the JD(S) ticket.

The last date for filing nomination papers is June 18 and therefore the names have to be finalized by tonight so that all candidates can file their papers tomorrow. The last date for withdrawals is June 22 and polling, if necessary, will be held on June 29.