BENGALURU: Former minister MR Seetharam, who was miffed over being denied Congress ticket to contest the recent MLC polls, has called for a meeting of his supporters, including Balija community leaders, at Palace Grounds here on Friday.
Several Congress leaders, including former MLCs Ramesh Babu and MD Lakshminarayan, are expected to take part in the meeting. After eliciting a response from his supporters, Seetharam is likely to take a call as to whether to remain in the Congress or quit.
There are murmurs in political corridors that the BJP is trying to get Seetharam on board and field him from Chikkaballapura in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Seetharam hails from the Balija community and the constituency has a considerable number of voters from the community.
Sitting Lok Sabha member B N Bache Gowda is likely to quit the BJP, according to sources. Soon after Seetharam was denied ticket, the Congress tried to repair the damage by appointing his son Raksha Ramaiah as the Indian Youth Congress national general secretary.
But the father-son duo did not take part in any of the party events. According to sources, the educationist-turned-politician who runs a plethora of institutions set up by his late father M S Ramaiah was in the coterie of Siddaramaiah and the latter even batted in his favour for the MLC ticket.