BENGALURU: The Congress has succeeded in riding out the rebellion in Kundgol, and convinced its rebels to withdraw their nominations and work in favour of the official candidate, Kusumavati Shivalli.
Chandrashekhar Juttal, son of former MLA Govindappa Juttal, Suresh Savanur, Vishwanath Kubihal, Shivanand Bentur and Gurunath Ghorpade had filed nominations, claiming to be Congress members, and also submitted another set as Independents.
Discussion with these candidates went on till Thursday morning and District Congress Rural unit president Anil Patil expressed confidence that all the rebels would withdraw from the contest.A relieved Congress is holding a rally on Friday at Sanshi village. Senior Congress leaders Siddaramaiah, D K Shivakumar, Dinesh Gundurao, R V Deshpande, Satish Jarkiholi, H K Patil, and JD(S) leaders Basavaraj Horatti, N H Konaraddi and others will address the rally, said Anil Patil, adding that the party was confident of victory, looking at the response of voters to the party roadshow.
In all, eight candidates are in the fray, including Kusumavati of the Congress and S I Chikkanagoudar of the BJP. Others in the contest are Eshwarappa Bhandiwad, Tualasappa Dasar, Raju Nayakwadi, Shaila Goni, Siddappa Godi and Somanna Meti, all independents.A total of 50 candidates were originally in the fray — 27 in Chincholi and 23 in Kundgol —but 10 dropped out of the contest in Chincholi and 15 in Kundgol. It is a straight fight between the Congress and BJP, though there are some more candidates.
In Chincholi, it’s a straight fight between Subhash Rathod of the Congress and Dr Avinash Jadhav of the BJP. In Kundgol, it is a straight fight between Kusumavati Shivalli and S I Chikkangoudar of BJP. Political analyst B S Murthy said, “Kundgol was won by less than 600 votes and when the margins are so small attention seekers try to rock the boat.’’“Following the coalition dharma, it’s now up to the Congress to put its house in order for its candidate’s victory,” is the JDS stand.