CHITRADURGA, BENGALURU : With Congress rebel candidate Sadiq Pailwan declaring on Friday that he is pulling out of the bypoll to the Davanagere South Assembly constituency, where the election is scheduled for April 9, the Grand Old Party had a sense of relief.
He decided to withdraw after meeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru on Friday.
“I am the son of the Congress family. By withdrawing as a rebel candidate, I will work for Congress as BJP should not win for any reason,” he said.
He indicated that he will work for the party’s official candidate and grandson of late Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Samarth Shamanur, son of Horticulture Minister SS Mallikarjun.
With All-India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary (Karnataka in-charge) Randeep Singh Surjewala in town, both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar put in a lot of effort to quell the rebellion. Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan and CM’s political secretary and MLC Nazir Ahmed had refused to be Siddaramaiah’s emissaries to convince Sadiq, fearing the ire of religious heads of minorities. Instead, Council chief whip Salim Ahmed and Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad stepped in.
They flew to Chitradurga in a helicopter on Thursday and reached Davanagere by road, but could not get in touch with Sadiq. They met him in the evening and also spoke to his family members. The two party representatives reportedly told Sadiq that if BJP manages to win, his family has to take the blame.
Salim and Arshad took Sadiq to Siddaramaiah where a one-on-one meeting was held and Sadiq agreed to withdraw, sources said.
Siddaramaiah said, “Sadiq Pailwan has been in Congress for about 40 years and he is a staunch loyalist of the party. There are 70,000 Muslim voters in Davanagere South and there were many ticket aspirants. But the high command, as per the practice of giving tickets to the families of the deceased, fielded Samarth.”
“Sadiq said he will not betray the party and will remain a Congressman. The party respects his determination, discipline and sacrifice,” said DK Shivakumar.