Praise for S M Krishna, but seat for Rajeev Gowda

Bengaluru: Everyone from Congress general secretary B K Hariprasad to KPCC president Dr. G. Parameshwar-sang paeans in praise of former foreign affairs minister and veteran politician S.M. Krishna, but they did not have an answer for the crucial question: why did the party pick spokesperson Prof. Rajeev Gowda instead of the former chief minister for polls to Rajya Sabha?

On Monday, reports of a slugfest between two ministers surfaced even as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dr. Parameshwar put up a show of unity by accompanying Prof. Gowda while submitting his nomination papers. These reports indicated that one minister accused the other of lobbying behind the scenes to eliminate Mr. Krishna's name from the list and include that of Prof. Gowda. One of them took up the issue with Mr. Siddaramaiah who pleaded that he was helpless as the decision to axe Mr. Krishna's name was taken in New Delhi.

Prof. Gowda and Mr. Hariprasad will make it to Rajya Sabha as will Prabhakar Kore of BJP and Kupendra Reddy of JD (S) without a formal poll as Congress leaders decided they would not field another candidate though the name of realtor Channa Reddy, backed by Mr. Siddaramaiah, was doing the rounds last week.  While Dr. Parameshwar said Mr. Krishna deserved another term in Rajya Sabha, Mr. Hariprasad said Mr. Krishna's services would be utilized by the party soon. Prof. Gowda described Mr. Krishna as the "tallest leader" and a "role model" for all Congressmen.

7 nominees to get elected unopposed

Elections to the Legislative Council too will not witness polling as all three major parties fielded seven candidates for seven seats. On Monday, Congress candidates KPCC president Dr. G. Parameshwar, H.M.Revanna, N.S. Boseraju and Jayamma Balaraj submitted nomination papers along with T. A. Saravana of JD (S), while K. S. Eshwarappa of BJP, and realtor U.D. Mallikarjuna, a common  candidate of JD (S)-BJP, submitted their papers on Saturday .