The grand old party had announced candidates for 24 constituencies out of the total 28 constituencies in the state for the LS elections.
Congress ticket aspirant Veena Kashappanavar cautioned of contesting as an independent candidate from Bagalkot seat. (screengrab)
Congress leaders who were denied tickets to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Bagalkot and Davanagere constituencies in Karnataka expressed their displeasure over the party high command’s decision.
They sought the replacement of the candidates from the two constituencies after the grand old party announced its candidates for 24 constituencies.
The Lok Sabha elections for the 28 constituencies in the state will be held in two phases — 26 April and 7 May.
The Congress is yet to name its candidates for four constituencies.
State Minister for Sugar and Textiles Shivannda Patil’s daughter Samyukta Patil was announced as the party’s candidate from Bagalkot.
Hungund MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar’s wife Veena Kashappanavar was a ticket aspirant there.
Following the announcement of the candidate, Veena threatened that she would contest as an independent if the party did not revoke the candidacy of Samyukta was not revoked by 28 March. The efforts of the high command to pacify her also went in vain.
Similarly, Davanagere ticket aspirant Vinay Kumar GB — founder of Insights IAS — appealed to the high command to revoke its decision on fielding Prabha Mallikarjun, wife of state Minister for Mines and Geology SS Mallikarjun.
In the candidates list announced by the Congress in Karnataka, at least 10 people are kith and kin of the party’s senior leaders, including five state ministers.
Veena — former president of Bagalkot Zilla Panchayat — said that she decided to contest as an independent candidate from Bagalkot considering the opinion of her supporters.
Following her announcement, the state leadership of the Congress deployed Dharwad MLA Vinay Kulkarni to talk her out of the decision.
Kulkarni met Veena and her husband Vijayanad at their residence in Hungund on Sunday night (24 March). However, the efforts did not yield results as Veena remained firm on withdrawing her claims for the seat.
Following the meeting, Veena exuded confidence in getting the party ticket, citing the party is yet to issue a B form to the candidate.
“I am hopeful of getting the party ticket. There are instances where the party announced a candidate but issued B forms to others,” Veena told reporters in Bagalkot on Sunday night.
She further said: “The party’s decision to field an outsider has shocked all communities in the constituency. I have been working at the grassroots level for the past five years and developed a good rapport with the people.”
“There is no question of stepping back from the elections. I will announce my final decision after meeting my supporters on 28 March.”
“If the party fails to revoke its decision, I will fight as an independent candidate,” cautioned Veena.
It may be recalled that Veena contested unsuccessfully from the same parliament seat in 2019. She had lost the election by a record margin of over one lakh votes.
“Despite her loss, she remained active in the district politics. She also actively campaigned for all the party candidates in seven seats in Bagalkot for the 2023 Assembly polls. Not even a single MLA was in opposition to her. We will not accept the outsider as our candidate,” said Vijayanad.
After meeting with Veena and Vijayanand, Kulkarni said he would convey their message to the high command.
He said that he tried to convince her but she remained firm.
“The high command will take an appropriate decision to quell the dissent. The final decision is likely to be taken in the CEC meeting being chaired on 28 March,” Kulkarni told reporters.
Vinay Kumar appealed to the Congress high command to reconsider the candidature of Prabha in Davanagere, considering the “anger of people” over prioritising a single family.
Ever since the candidate for Davanagere was announced, Vinay Kumar has been touring the constituency to collect opinions from people regarding his future in politics.
In his post on X, Vinay Kumar requested the Congress high command to reconsider the candidate for the Davanagere Lok Sabha constituency.
Insights IAS founder Vinay Kumar GB’s deleted post requesting to reconsider party candidature for Davanagere. (Screengrab)
“I request you to give me an opportunity to become MP and fight for the people, nation and the Congress party,” Vinay appealed to replace the candidate in Davanagere.
He further pointed out: “The current candidate hails from a family with an MLA and Cabinet minister. Moreover, there is a huge resentment among people for giving tickets to only one family time and again.”
“Currently it’s a walkover for BJP (even if I campaign in favour of our candidate) despite BJP fielding a weak candidate……. I am forced to openly request the Congress party to reconsider the decision in the interest of the people of Davanagere, nation and the party,” Vinay Kumar vented his dissent.
However, he deleted this post hours after posting it on X.
It may be noted that Vinay Kumar, anticipating that the party would honour him with the ticket, had started campaigning across Davanagere as early as January 2024.
Meanwhile, he has neither hinted at contesting as an independent candidate nor quitting the party.
His supporters are said to be pressuring him to contest as an independent candidate but he is yet to announce his decision.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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