Want berth, get votes: Congress MLAs told

Ballari: Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has reportedly set a target for the six Congress MLAs in by-poll bound Ballari district. “Anyone of you who gets more votes than the BJP in this by-poll for our candidate V.S. Ugrappa will be considered for a ministerial post in the next cabinet expansion”, Mr Siddaramaiah reportedly said.

Sources in the party said, Mr Siddaramaiah held a meeting with the six Congress legislators from the district - Mr P.T. Parameshwar Naik, Mr B Nagendra, Mr E Tukaram, Mr Bhima Naik, Mr Anand   Singh and Mr J.N. Ganesh in a resort in the outskirts of Hosapete town. He reportedly told each Congress MLA to get lead of 30,000 votes more than the BJP candidate adding that the one who gets the most votes will be considered for the minister's post.

“In other circumstances, seniority and capacity would have been the criteria for the minister's post. But, winning this bypoll is very important in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha general election. Otherwise, it will send a wrong signal across the country about the JDS-Congress coalition. Hence, whoever gets more votes for the Congress candidate will be considered for the minister post", he reportedly said.

At present, none of the six Congress legislators have been accommodated in the state cabinet as there was no 'consensus' candidate. Water resources minister Mr D.K. Shivakumar is now Ballari district in-charge minister.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, BJP candidate Mr Sriramulu had won by a margin of 85,144 votes. Sriramulu had secured 5,34,406, while Congress candidate Justice N.Y. Hanumanthappa had obtained 4,49,262 votes.