BENGALURU: Congress list for seven more seats for the December 5 bypolls, including Shivajinagar, will have to wait for about two more days, said party leader Siddaramaiah after the Congress observers’ meet on Sunday. The Congress had released the first list of eight candidates on October 31.
Karnataka Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao told reporters that the second list would be announced after the Supreme Court verdict on the disqualified MLAs. But behind closed doors, there was a serious deadlock over the seven seats including Shivajinagar where Siddaramaiah and Dinesh Gundu Rao prefer Rizwan Arshad but some party leaders are against choosing him considering he had lost twice earlier in the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.
The other seats like Athani, Gokak and Kagwad, all in Belgaum, have not been easy for the Congress with senior leaders unable to resolve the impasse. Bellary too has seen a stiff fight between claimants, so also Yeshwantpur in the city and KR Pet in Mandya where surprisingly even after ten days of announcing the first list, the party leadership has not been able to finalize the candidates and is awaiting the high command’s intervention.
Sources said in many of these constituencies the party is likely to announce the names only after the BJP comes out with its list. Sources said, for example, in Shivajinagar, if Roshan Baig is announced as BJP candidate, the Congress would consider a heavyweight to take him on.
Speaking about DK Shivakumar meeting BJP MLA aspirant Raju Kage on Sunday, Siddaramaiah said, “If anyone accepts the party’s principles and comes over, we will welcome them. But as for giving tickets, it is left to the high command.”
JDS, which has maintained equi-distance from the BJP and Congress, said its list for the seats will come in a few days. JDS has also already said it is not interested in pulling the government down.