BENGALURU: Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah met AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala in New Delhi on Saturday to finalise the party candidates for the Rajya Sabha and MLC polls. “We have discussed the candidates for the MLC seats. Those who have served the party for a long time and are loyal will be nominated. Names of both youths and veterans have come up for discussion,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.
Asked about the RS polls, he clarified that AICC president Sonia Gandhi will take a final call in this regard. According to sources, Surjewala asked both the leaders to select two names, as the party can win two MLC seats, for clearance from the high command. It was also discussed whether incumbent Jairam Ramesh, who had faced some opposition from several leaders from the state, should be renominated for the lone RS seat the party can win from Karnataka out of four going for the polls, sources said.
The names of S R Patil from the Veerashaiva Lingayat community, who had sacrificed his MLC seat from Vijayapura-Bagalkot to Sunil Gouda Patil, younger brother of KPCC campaign committee chairman M B Patil, and former minister M R Seetharam, are doing the rounds for the MLC nominations. But there might be surprise in the selection of MLC candidates, a source said.