Karnataka bypolls: Fear of rebellion looms large over Congress in Davangere

Though KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar claimed in Bengaluru that candidates’ selection for the Assembly bypoll was based on consensus and the decision was unanimous, a Congress leader and disappointed ticket aspirant for Davangere South constituency Mohammad Sadiq Pehelwan announced in Davangere that he would challenge Congress candidate Samarth as a rebel candidate.

Expressing disappointment over the choice of the Congress high command, he said: “It seems both the Congress and the BJP are opposed to the interest of minorities. The Congress fails to create opportunities to us though we have been supporting the party all these years. The Congress should have chosen its nominee from Muslim community, which has a population of about 90,000. Instead, it has chosen a Lingayat whose voters are just around 30,000, which is unfortunate,” said Mr. Pehelwan, a former wrestler and claimed to be a staunch supporter of the late leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa. He announced that he would file his second set of nomination as an independent on Monday.

Incidentally, Congress nominee Mr. Samarth has also filed the nomination, and would be filing another set of nomination paper on Monday. The last date for withdrawal of nomination is March 26.

It may be noted that Mr. Samarth is the grandson of Shamanur Shivashankarappa, whose death has caused the bypoll to this constituency, and also son of Minister S.S. Mallikarjun. His mother Prabha Mallikarjun in the MP for Davangere.

It is being said that such a demand for providing ticket to a minority candidate amidst the stubborn stand by the politically powerful Shamanuru family that it should get the ticket had delayed the announcement of candidate for this Assembly seat.