BENGALURU: Even as the BJP and the JD(S) have announced their first list of candidates for the BBMP elections scheduled for August 22, the ruling Congress is struggling to finalise its list.
Though Congress leaders huddled in a secret meeting throughout Thursday, they could not finalise the list owing to multiple aspirants in at least 100 wards.
The party has now entrusted the responsibility to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara.
“The party will release its list of candidates on August 8,” an official note stated on Thursday.
Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara, AICC secretary Selvakumar, party senior leaders B K Hariprasad, Rehman Khan and five ministers from the city, held talks at a resort on the outskirts of the city, away from the badgering ticket aspirants.
Since the party is in power in the state, there is a huge demand for its tickets as aspirants think they stand a good chance of winning.
Sources said the first list of candidates for about 50 wards, where a single name has been recommended by party hierachies, is almost ready. The real problem is in finalising the candidates for wards where there are more than one candidate, each one supported by different groups.
The high command’s diktat to ensure both social justice and winnability in distributing tickets has made the task tougher.
Meanwhile, the JD(S) announced candidates for 120 wards on Thursday. The BJP has already announced candidates for 96 wards and it is all set to announce another list on Friday or Saturday.
Protest Erupts
Earlier in the day, ticket aspirants staged a protest in front of the office of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, fearing that they may be denied a ticket. The protestors demanded that the party give tickets to those who have served it over the years and to former corporators with a clean track record.