A file photo of Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamy of Adichunchanagiri mutt with Congress Karnataka unit president D.K. Shivakumar.
Amidst growing curiosity over the constituency from which former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will contest the coming Assembly elections, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar said the party will facilitate the former Chief Minister’s contest from whichever constituency he chooses.
During his visit to Adichunchanagiri mutt in Mandya on March 21, Mr Shivakumar told reporters that Mr Siddaramaiah is free to choose any constituency.
Mr Siddaramaiah had applied for a party ticket to contest the coming Assembly elections and had said that the matter was left to the party high command. “The party is ready to support him in whichever constituency he chooses,” said Mr Shivakumar. “Whether Kolar, Varuna, Chamundeshwari or Badami, the party will support him.”
Congress will release first list of candidates this week
Mr Shivakumar said the first list of the Congress party is likely to be released either on March 22 or 23. The first list will have the names of candidates contesting in about 100 constituencies of the State Assembly.
Mr Shivakumar said the Congress High Command is in favour of Lok Sabha Member D K Suresh contesting the Assembly elections from Ramanagaram to increase the party’s tally by one more seat. But, Mr Suresh prefers to continue as a Lok Sabha member, said Mr Shivakumar. Mr Suresh is the brother of Mr Shivakumar.
When asked about the possibility of Minister for Youth Empowerment and Sports K.C. Narayan Gowda’s entry into the Congress, Mr Shivakumar said he does not wish to spoil anybody’s political career. He told reporters to pose the question directly to Mr Narayan Gowda.
Urigowda and Nanjegowda controversy
Though Mr Shivakumar’s visit to Adichunchanagiri mutt comes a day after the seer, Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamy, met Minister for Horticulture Muniratna and reportedly advised him against coming out with a film on the fictitious characters of Urigowda and Doddananjegowda, the KPCC president said he did not discuss the matter with the seer.
However, he made it clear that there was no question of the Vokkaliga community surrendering to the designs of the BJP to malign the community in the name of the two fictitious characters Urigowda and Doddananjegowda. The BJP is trying to project the two fictitious characters as persons responsible for killing the erstwhile ruler of Mysuru kingdom Tipu Sultan.
The BJP is trying to divert public attention away from its reputation of running the ‘most corrupt government in the country’ with a film on fictitious characters. Instead of trying to find solutions to livelihood problems, like price rise, increasing prices of fuel and fertilizers, BJP leaders were trying to pit communities against each other. “Ask the teachers of (BJP leaders) C.T. Ravi and C.N. Ashwath Narayan if they had ever taught about such characters to the duo,” he said.