Hebbal seat cooks up Congress storm, Kurubas battle it out

Bengaluru: The coming Hebbal Assembly bypoll has created divisions in the  Chief Minister’s camp.  Mr Siddaramaiah’s close associate H.M. Revanna is battling for the party ticket against  another follower of the CM, Bairati Suresh.

Mr Revanna, during the KPCC executive committee meeting on Monday, moved a resolution saying that non-party members should not get the ticket and got it ratified in an attempt to scuttle the chances of Mr Suresh. Meanwhile Muslim leaders in the Congress are trying hard to get the seat for a community leader.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader said Mr Revanna was apparently furious with Mr Suresh, who has been trying hard to get the Hebbal ticket. “Mr Suresh had surfaced in Hebbal in November last year  organising orchestra-nights, on the occasion of Kannada Rajyotsava. I have been working in this constituency for the last eight to 10 years, therefore, it is not appropriate to give the ticket to a person, who is trying to win over the electorate  through money power,” a leader said quoting Mr Revanna.

Meanwhile, Congress veteran  C.K. Jaffer Sharief has been lobbying hard to secure the ticket for his grandson, Rehman Sharief, who had lost the seat in 2013 by around 5000 votes.

Sons and wives! BJP stuck in a groove
The state BJP has failed to arrive at a consensus on the candidates for the three Assembly constituencies which will go to polls on February 13.

The BJP core committee which met here on Monday, failed to arrive at a consensus on the candidates to Bidar, Devadurga and Hebbal Assembly constituencies.

Among the three constituencies, Bidar and Hebbal were represented by BJP and Devadurga was won by the Congress. Sources in BJP said the party has almost made up its mind to give the Bidar ticket to Suryakanta Nagamarapalli, son of  Bidar MLA Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli, who died recently. In Devadurga, the party has almost zeroed in on former minister Shivanagowda Naik.

However the party is caught in a bind over the candidate for Hebbal. Party workers want Ms Lalitha, wife of Jagadish Kumar, the BJP MLA of Hebbal, who died recently, to be fielded. However, former minister and BJP leader Katta Subramanya Naidu has demanded the ticket for his daughter-in-law Sowmya.  

Many in the BJP are not keen on the ticket being given to a family member of Katta, who was involved in a series of land scams and was even jailed like former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa. Meanwhile, BJP MLC, Narayanaswamy is also demanding the  Hebbal ticket.

Former Chief Ministers B.S.Yeddyurappa and Jagadish Shettar did not attend Monday’s meeting. Speaking to the media after the meeting, BJP state president Pralhad Joshi said, since two core committee leaders did not attend the meeting, the committee will meet again on January 21 to finalize the candidates.