Nandan Nilekani, the head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and former Infoscion, is likely to be the Congress candidate from the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat against sitting MP and BJP strongman H N Ananthkumar.
Congress leaders in the state were tight-lipped on the issue, but there is discussion in party circles that the party high command is inclined to nominate Nilekani for the seat.
“Former External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Congressman U B Venkatesh, IIM professor Rajeev Gowda are among the other names being considered for the prestigious seat,’’ a source said.
Mandya MP Ramya was initially preparing to contest from this seat in 2014. She had to hastily shift to Mandya for the byelection in August, which she won.
Party observers appointed by KPCC to recommend prospective party nominees have elicited opinions from a cross-section of people in three Lok Sabha segments in Bangalore Urban district and are yet to submit their report to the KPCC.
Bangalore is currently a BJP bastion, with all three Lok Sabha segments held by the party. If former Karnataka Assembly speaker D B Chandre Gowda is the Bangalore North MP, Bangalore Central is held by P C Mohan.
In an unrelated development, Chikmagalur District Congress Committee has reportedly asked the party high command to field AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi from the Udupi-Chikmagalur seat. Part of the seat was once represented by his grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
KPCC president Dr G Parameshwara had announced that the party high command is likely to announce party nominees to all the 28 Lok Sabha segments by December. The party observers have been directed to submit their status report in next couple of days.
The Congress, which made inroads into JD(S) bastions by bagging both the Lok Sabha seats in the August byelections to Bangalore Rural and Mandya, is hoping to win a minimum of 22 seats from the total number of 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.
The BJP represents 18 Lok Sabha seats followed by the Congress (9) and the JD(S) one.