Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on Monday said the party's national General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has agreed to campaign and spend time in the State for the Assembly elections next year. The KPCC chief's sudden New Delhi visit came amid talks about differences between him and Congress Legislature party leader Siddaramaiah regarding probable candidates recommended to the high command for the upcoming MLC polls in the state.
Shivakumar’s meeting also resulted in the announcements of the final list of candidates for the Legislative Council. Party chief Sonia Gandhi approved the candidatures of M Nagarjun Yadav and K Abdul Jabbar as Congress candidates to contest the biennial elections to be the Legislative
Council.
The June 10 Rajya Sabha elections was also discussed with Priyanka Gandhi’s name being favoured but the party will take some more time to decide upon it keeping in mind the resolution of Udaipur Chintan Shivir that proposed ‘one family, one ticket, one MP’.
Tuesday is the last date to file nominations for the June 3 polls to seven seats of the Karnataka Legislative Council to be elected by MLAs and all the three major political parties in the state — Congress, BJP and JD(S) — are yet to announce their candidates.
"Everyone will have the desire that their leader should come to their state, but as of now it has not been discussed," Shivakumar said in response to a question about several state leaders insisting that Priyanka Gandhi contest the Rajya Sabha polls from Karnataka.
"We have said that she should spend time for the state during elections (assembly polls) and she has agreed to it. She has said that she will campaign in the state...No discussion has taken place regarding Rajya Sabha tickets," Shivakumar said briefing the media.
This comes amid speculation that a section of the Karnataka Congress leaders, including Shivakumar, wants Priyanka Gandhi to contest the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls from the state, as they feel it may benefit the party during the Assembly polls, due next year. Shivakumar had recently said the party wants Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to "concentrate on the south, where elections are coming up".
He said he and Siddaramaiah together had submitted a list of candidates to the high command for MLC polls. Seats are falling vacant, due to the retirement of MLCs — Laxman Sangappa Savadi and Lahar Singh Siroya of BJP; Ramappa Timmapur, Allum Veerabhadrappa, Veena Achaiah S of Congress; and H M Ramesha Gowda and Narayana Swamy K V of JD(S).
According to official sources, in this election, each MLC candidate will require a minimum of 29 votes to win, and on the basis of minimum votes required and tallying it with the strength of each party in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP will be able to win four seats, Congress two and JD(S) one.