Congress douses rebel fire by convincing Iqbal Hussein in Ramanagara

Suresh had a tough time in convincing them about the compulsion to adhere to the poll pact.
Anita Kumaraswamy
Anita Kumaraswamy

BENGALURU: The Congress leadership has succeeded in dousing the rebel fire in its Ramanagara unit by convincing the rebel leader Iqbal Hussein not to enter the fray as an independent candidate against Anita Kumaraswamy of JD(S). Hussein had threatened to raise a banner of revolt along with thousands of Congress party workers on Saturday if Congress failed to filed its candidate against JD(S) in Ramanagara.
Desperate to honour the poll pact the party high command has entered into with JD(S), senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha member D K Suresh held a marathon meeting with leaders of the Ramanagara district unit on Sunday. The Congress strongman had to face the ire of party workers as they refused to work for the victory of JD(S) candidate Anita Kumaraswamy.

Suresh had a tough time in convincing them about the compulsion to adhere to the poll pact. Hussein, who had polled about 70,000 votes in the recent assembly election as the Congress candidate against H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S), termed the poll pact as suicidal for Congress in Ramanagara. However, Suresh succeeded in pacifying the leaders and party workers after assuring them of implementing all the long-pending development works in the constituency on a war-footing and fielding Iqbal Hussein as the Congress candidate from Ramanagara in the next assembly election.

"I, along with my brother D K Shivakumar, will take personal interest in making Iqbal Hussein the MLA from Ramanagara in the next assembly election," Suresh promised. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Iqbal Hussein said, "I have decided not to contest the by-poll in the larger interest of the party. We will work for the victory of the JD(S) candidate in accordance with the instructions of our party leadership. The party leaders have assured us to fulfill our demands and protect the interests of local Congress leaders."

Hussein's decision has come as a big relief for Congress as Chandrashekar Lingappa quit the party recently and entered the fray in Ramanagara as BJP candidate. Congress workers had threatened to work for the victory of BJP candidate.

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