Siddaramaiah wants CM Ibrahim in Council?

BENGALURU: Will Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ensure his die-hard supporter C M Ibrahim’s entry into the Legislative Council and facilitate the former Union minister’s comeback to state politics? 

With one vacancy in the upper House, caused by the demise of BJP member Vimala Gowda, half a dozen candidates of the ruling Congress are lobbying for the ticket for a bypoll on August 31. 

Mr Siddaramaiah’s camp-followers, however, are certain that their leader would back Mr Ibrahim much to the chagrin of veteran Congress leaders who are peeved with the former Union minister for criticizing late prime minister Indira Gandhi and party president Mrs Sonia Gandhi prior to his entry into the party.

 “If Mr Siddaramaiah has his way and gets the ticket for Mr Ibrahim, it will be a comeback of sorts for latter as the Chief Minister also wants to induct him into the cabinet and perhaps elevate him as Leader of the House, a position which is vacant after KPCC president, Dr G. Parameshwar, resigned as home minister last month,” a senior leader told Deccan Chronicle.

The leader added that though Mr Ibrahim lost to his rivals by whopping margin of 56,041 votes during Assembly polls in 2013, Mr Siddaramaiah was backing the candidature of Mr Ibrahim for several reasons—his oratory skills which would come in handy during debates in the upper House, the fact that he first proposed Anna Canteens on the lines of Amma Canteen in Tamil Nadu but now rebranded as Indira Canteens and scheduled for launch by Congress vice president, Rahul Gandhi, on August 16.

Meanwhile, other aspirants are seeking the blessings of party bigwigs to secure the ticket for the bypoll. These aspirants include G. C Chandrshekhar, Rani Satish, Allumprabhu Patil, Taradevi Siddarath, M. S. Basvaraju, Naseer Ahmed and Bharati Shankar.