No tickets for relatives, Cong leaders on edge

Relatives of many top Congress leaders vying for party tickets in the Karnataka Assembly election could be...

Relatives of many top Congress leaders vying for party tickets in the Karnataka Assembly election could be in for disappointment with the Screening Committee chaired by general secretary Digvijay Singh taking a policy decision on Wednesday night to keep them out.

The Central Election Committee (CEC) presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi was finalising the list of candidates for the first phase of polls on May 10 till late on Thursday night. These influential relatives have their last hope from the CEC, which could overrule the Screening Committee’s decision.

Among the aspiring ticket-seekers are Nivedit, son of AICC general secretary Margaret Alva, Abdul Rehman Shariff and Abdul Wahab Shariff, grandsons of former Union Minister C K Jaffer Shariff, B K Shivaram, elder brother of AICC general secretary B K Hari Prasad, and J Narasimha Swamy, son of Congress MP RL Jalappa, among others.

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With AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi emphasising on the induction of youth in the party and giving them priority in ticket distribution, a host of young leaders have jumped into the fray to seek party tickets. About 30 of them are related to influential leaders making it difficult for the party leadership to oblige all of them, said party sources.

It was in this backdrop that the Screening Committee decided to exclude the influential ticket-seekers who want their maiden entry into electoral politics as Congress candidates. According to another criterion adopted by the committee, anybody who lost the last election by a margin of more than 15,000 votes should not be given party ticket.

A senior Congress leader from Karnataka questioned the Screening Committee’s decision. “In Gujarat, party tickets were given to many relatives of top party leaders. Why should there be a different yardstick for Karnataka? Some influential state Congress leaders, who want to favour some ticket-seekers with money bags, are actually behind the decision of the Screening Committee,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress is learnt to be engaged in talks with BJP MP from Dharwad (South) Kunnur Manjunath Channappa, an ex-Congressman. Congress sources said Channappa was ready to consider ‘homecoming’. The MP was, however, not available for comment.