Rebel trouble for Congress and bjp

BENGALURU: Dissidence has hit both Congress and BJP in Karnataka after the two parties announced their candidate lists for most constituencies for the May 12 assembly elections, with many rejected aspirants threatening to contest as rebels.

Congress is facing trouble in about 20 out of the 218 constituencies where it announced its candidates, while BJP is facing trouble in about 10 seats after having
announced candidates for 154.


Congress workers vandalised the party office in Mandya, where sitting MLA, film star Ambareesh has been given the ticket. One of his supporters, Ravikumar claimed that Ambareesh had promised him the ticket this time, but had reneged on it.

In some other constituencies such as Koppal, Kolar, Kollegal, Jagalur, Kittur and Pulikeshinagar, Congress aspirants expressed anguish over being overlooked.

Some, like Prasanna Kumar in Pulikeshinagar and V R Sudarshan in Kolar are said to be in talks with the opposition JDS and BJP to shift parties.

Congress leaders, however, said it’s a minor issue. “Considering that 218 candidates have been announced, dissidence in just 20 constituencies is not bad at all,” an outgoing cabinet minister told ET. Candidates for six seats are yet to be announced.

Congress working president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the party is reaching out to all disappointed aspirants and trying to solve the problem. “It is a sign that the party is coming back to power. We will find ways to solve the issues with all aspirants to whatever extent possible,” Rao said.

BJP is also facing dissidence in several seats, with disgruntled aspirants threatening to contest as rebels in seats like Dharwad, Sagar, Chikpet and Gulbarga Dakshin. “We are talking to all those who wanted our party tickets and hope we can assuage their feelings,” party general secretary N Ravikumar said.