GULBARGA: The BJP, which faced a debacle in the Bidar Lok Sabha elections, is expected to give ‘Operation Lotus’ another try in the MLC elections.
Speculations are rife that the BJP will field Congress sitting MLC Basavaraj Patil Humnabad in Bidar. Basavaraj Patil, a four-time MLA from Humnabad, had won this seat twice on a Congress ticket. According to sources, Patil, who was refused a ticket by the Congress, is in talks with all elected representatives of local bodies in Bidar district.
The Congress is considering Chandrashekhar Patil, popularly known as Shekhar Patil, son of former minister Manik Rao Patil, a close friend of Union Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and former CM Dharam Singh.
The differences between Dharam Singh and Basavaraj Patil came to the fore during the Parliament elections. Patil had opposed the candidature of Dharam Singh.
Basavaraj Patil, who is in Bangalore, has neither confirmed nor ruled out the possibility of joining the BJP.
“Let me see whether the Congress will give me a ticket or not. I will take a decision after consulting my followers on November 30,” Patil said. Sources said that the BJP will not field Gurupadappa Nagamarapally and Prakash Khandre from Bidar. Former MLA Subhash Kallur is strongly opposed to the idea of fielding Basavaraj Patil in Bidar.
Bidar district Minister Revu Naik Belamagi told Express that Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and BJP state unit president Sadananda Gowda have called a meeting of the district leaders on November 30 to decide on the candidate.
‘HIGH COMMAND WILL DECIDE ON ALLIANCE ’
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah on Sunday said that the final decision on the proposed Congress- JD(S) alliance for the upcoming Legislative Council election would be taken by the Congress party high command. The former deputy chief minister was addressing presspersons in Arsikere.
When asked about the opposition of several Congress leaders to the proposed alliance and their decision to field S M Anand as their candidate from Hassan district, Siddaramaiah said: "These are individual opinions and have nothing to do with the decision of the party. The decision of the Congress high command will be final, and all party members have to abide by it." Important Congress leaders such as former Minister B Shivaram and DCC president A Manju have expressed their opposition to the alliance.
Protest against Reddys on Dec 5 Siddaramaiah said that the Congress would stage protests throughout the state against the Reddy brothers on Dec 5. "The CM's only achievement has been the shedding of crocodile tears to retain his chair," he said.