Journalism of Courage
THE much-awaited public meeting of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at Kolar, at the very same venue where a speech he delivered in 2019 has led to his disqualification as an MP now, has been postponed yet again.
While the Congress clearly hoped to send a political message by holding Rahul’s meeting at the Kolar venue, the impact might have fizzled out to some extent due to this fourth postponement – from April 5 to 6, to 9 to 10, and now to April 16.
According to party leaders, the reason is the raging tussle between former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and state Congress president D K Shivakumar over selection of candidates for around 25 seats. The Congress hopes to have its house entirely in order before Rahul’s visit.
Then there is a second reason: the party leadership is yet to take a call on Siddaramaiah’s barely disguised wish to contest from Kolar. While the Leader of the Opposition, who has already been nominated from Varuna, has said he is open to contesting from two seats, the Congress is worried that this might not send the right message.
According to a senior leader, the 25-odd seats where the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar sides are faced off include Mangalore North, Sidlaghatta, Sindhanur and Arsikere. “How can Rahul go when the party is yet to decide on whether Siddaramaiah should contest from Kolar? Besides, since there are strong disagreements on some seats, there will be questions. We don’t want attention to be diverted from our main issues — our guarantees (to voters) and the 40% commission line of attack against the government,” the leader said.
In the 2018 election, Siddaramaiah had left his traditional seat of Varuna for his son, who had won and has now had to make way for his father. Of the two seats Siddaramaiah had contested then, he had lost from Chamundeshwari and won Badami.
The Congress fears that Siddaramaiah contesting from two seats again might signal that he is not confident of winning from Varuna, and also leave him tied down to his own constituencies. As arguably the Congress’s most popular face, the party wants Siddaramaiah to be its star campaigner across the state.
Those close to Siddaramaiah, however, reject this contention, saying he is not at all nervous about Varuna. In an interview to The Indian Express, published on Saturday, Siddaramaiah said party leaders wanted him to contest from Kolar as it would improve Congress prospects in the entire region.
The Congress has so far announced candidates for 166 of the 224 seats for the May 10 elections, leaving around 58 where there are multiple contenders. Sources said of these 58, over 25 are proving particularly difficult to settle between the Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar factions.
While the Congress’s first list comprised seats where more or less everyone was agreed on, in the second list, Siddaramaiah was seen to have had his way.
Talking about the differences, a senior leader said: “We are waiting for the BJP list, there could be one or two leaders switching over. But in around 25 seats, both of them (Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar) are adamant. They want their people to get the ticket.” However, the leader added, the dispute is not over any big names.
