Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jun 17: The Congress high command refused to accept the list recommended by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), which had asked the national leadership to pick two among the names forwarded by the state unit of the party. This has resulted in a kind of humiliation of the state leaders who have already discussed the issue and finalised the list.

It is learnt that the national leadership has received different complaints and objections to the earlier list. As the party leadership sought a new list, KPCC president D K Shivakumar held discussions with Rajya Sabha member Mallikarjun Kharge, and leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah, among others.

The party had recommended the names of Nivedia Alva and Nazeer Ahmed under minorities and backward classes quota, M R Seetaram, D K Mohan Babu and K C Venugopal under OBC quota. It is said that an influential leader from Kolar district has warned the national Congress leaders that if Nazeer Ahmed is given a chance to become MLC again, he will rethink about continuing with the party. Another influential leader reportedly said that the names recommended under OBC quota, in reality, were payment quota.

In the meantime, Christians, Buddhists and Parsis have objected to treating Muslims as the only minorities when picking names. Many have demanded to give an MLC seat to Christians as no one is representing the community under this quota now.