Council nominations: No consensus yet on selection of candidates

Congress leaders in Karnataka struggle to reach consensus on candidates for Legislative Council, lobbying intensifies for vacant seats.

With a large number of Congress leaders lobbying to become members of the Karnataka Legislative Council, the party has not been able to reach a consensus again on the candidates to be nominated against four vacant seats in the Upper House.

Sources in the party said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, and AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala have decided to finalise the candidates after holding talks with AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge in the next few days.

Mr. Siddaramaiah, Mr. Shivakumar, and Mr. Surjewala held talks on the list of candidates, but postponed finalisation of the names. Close to two dozen candidates, including some journalists, have been lobbying to become MLCs, party sources said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Surjewala reportedly took to task a few Council members of the party, such as Ivan D’Souza, Minister N.S. Boseraju, H.P. Sudham Das, and Salim Ahmed, apparently for their below-par work. Among other things, they have been told to lodge a complaint with Governor Tawaarchand Ghelot against BJP MLC Ravi Kumar for his controversial statement against Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner Fauzia Tarannum, it is learnt.