Sindhanur MLA Badarli's son sweeps Karnataka Youth Congress polls

Bengaluru: Amidst allegations that the polls were rigged, Basanagouda Badarli, nephew of Sindhanur Congress MLA Hampannagouda Badarli, was elected president of the Karnataka Youth Pradesh Congress on Sunday.

Badarli, largely perceived as outgoing state Youth Congress president Rizwan Arshad’s nominee in party circles, defeated Madhugiri MLA K.N. Rajanna’s son K.N. Rajendra by a margin of over 9,000 votes. Four candidates — Kemparaju K., Amruth Raj Gowda, R. Rajendra (reserved category), Sumaiya Tabrez (women category) — have been elected vice-presidents of the youth Congress. A total of 1.41 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the elections. Polling to the office-bearers’ posts in the state, district and city committees was held from May 14 to May 16.

The election was not without its share of irony with the rival camp launching a campaign against Badarli claiming he was a Sangh Parivar man, soon after his victory. A maroon-coloured pamphlet purportedly published on April 11, 2015, has gone viral on social media websites which allegedly indicates that Badarli was the prime sponsor of an event  organized by Hindu Jagaran Vedike (HJV) of Ballari division. The pamphlet also had Hindtvakkagi Vakilaru (Advocates for Hindutva) in Sindhanuru, written on it. In this, Badarli is mentioned as an organizer of the blood donation camp, as he was running Sri Shakti Blood Bank in the region.

Another senior Youth Congress functionary told this newspaper that Bardarli’s supporters had been  caught red-handed by rival camps while indulging in booth capturing by allegedly conniving with parliamentary returning officers and district returning officers. “This time around, we have caught them on our mobile phones, hence, we are planning to meet AICC vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, with these material to prove  how his ideas are being tampered with by his outgoing party youth wing president,” the source alleged.

The source further alleged that an aspirant for the president’s post has spent '6 crore. Rampant irregularities have been committed in many places by the kin of powerful leaders to emerge victorious.

The source added that according to initial reports on Wednesday night, the total polled votes was 1.05 lakh, which was revised to 1.41 lakh the next morning. “This has led to doubts about large-scale rigging. Bogus voting happened at party offices in various places overnight. Protests were staged in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Hassan and Shivamogga too against this,” the source recalled.

 ‘Son rise’ all the way

• Raksha Sitaram, son of minister M.R. Sitaram, has been elected president of Bengaluru city unit
• General secretary of the unit is Mohammed Nalpad, son of MLA N.A. Haris, while minister Ramalinga Reddy’s daughter Sowmya is vice-president
•  Sons of former ministers Diwakar Babu and M.N. Nabi head Ballari city and rural units
• Faizan Sait, son of MLA Feroz Sait, is president of Belagavi unit, while, Mrinal Hebbalkar, son of State Mahila Congress chief Lakshmi Hebbalkar, is its V-P
• Manthara Gowda, minister A. Manju’s son, will head Hassan unit