Bengaluru: The Congress high command on Wednesday sprung a surprise by naming General Secretary and outgoing Rajya Sabha member B.K. Hariprasad as one of its two candidates for the June 29 election to seven seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council.
Outgoing Council member Naseer Ahmed is the other candidate.
“Congress President Sonia Gandhi approved names of Hariprasad and Naseer Ahmed to contest in the biennial elections to the Karnataka Legislative Council,” party General Secretary Mukul Wasnik said in a statement from New Delhi.
Party’s state President D.K. Shivakumar on Tuesday recommended 6 names, including Ahmed’s to the high command in New Delhi for selecting two, Hariprasad’s name was not in the list.
“The high command nominated Hariprasad as he a senior Backward Classes leader, belonging to the Idiga community,” state Congress leader Prakash Rathod told IANS here.
Hariprasad, 65, who retires from the Rajya Sabha on June 25 along with party colleague Rajeev Gowda, contested in the May 2019 general elections from the high-profile Bangalore South Lok Sabha but lost to BJP’s debutant Tejasvi Surya.
“As the party is also committed to give representation to the minority community, Ahmed has been re-nominated for the Council seat,” said Rathod.
Hariprasad and Ahmed will file nominations on Thursday, the last date for filing papers.
“The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) will meet on Thursday under its leader Siddaramaiah to endorse the candidature of Hariprasad and Ahmed for the Council seats,” Rathod added.
Though 5 of the 7 outgoing members are from the Congress, it will be able to win only 2, as its strength in the 225-member Assembly is 68 legislators and each contestant needs 28 votes to get elected.
Ahmed, 53, hails from Kolar and rose through the party ranks.
The 5 other names the high command ignored are of Muddahanumegowda, S. Manohar, Saleem Ahmed, H.M. Revanna and M.R. Seetharam.
Besides Ahmed, the four outgoing Congress members are Jayamma, M.C. Venugopal, N.S. Bose Raju and Revanna.
Revanna and Naseer have sought re-nomination, while Seetharam is a former Council member and a minister in the Congress government from 2013-18.
Muddahanumegowda is the party’s former Lok Sabha member from Tumkur (2014-19), who could not re-contest in the May 2019 general elections, as the ticket was given to JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda under a pre-poll alliance.
Gowda, however, lost to BJP’s G.S. Basavaraj.
Saleem is the party’s state unit Working President.
With 116 legislators, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win 4 seats comfortably while, the JD-S will be able to ensure victory of only one candidate to replace its outgoing member T.A. Sharavana, who is keen to re-contest.
In the 75-member Council, apart from the Chairman, the opposition Congress has 37, BJP 19, JD-S 16, and there are two Independents.
