Yogeshwar not in touch with Congress; party in favour of fielding D.K. Suresh, says Cheluvarayaswamy

The recommendation of the leaders will be sent to the All India Congress Committee (AICC), who will announce the candidate, says the Minister

Claiming that former Minister C.P. Yogeshwar, who was an aspirant for the BJP ticket to contest the byelections to the Assembly from the Channapatna constituency was not in touch with the Congress, Agriculture Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy said the party leaders and workers were in favour of fielding D.K. Suresh, former MP, from the constituency.

Addressing a press conference in Mandya on Monday, October 21, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy sought to make it clear that Mr. Yogeshwar has neither contacted the party nor any leaders from the Congress have met him.

Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy, who headed the observers’ committee appointed by the party to identify candidates for the coming bypolls, said the party leaders and workers were bringing pressure on the leaders to field Mr. Suresh, a former MP and brother of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, from the constituency.

Pointing out there were three other aspirants from the Congress, including Mr. Puttanna, Mr. Ashwath, and Mr. Raghunandan Raman, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy said a final decision on the matter was left to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief.

The recommendation of the leaders will be sent to the All India Congress Committee (AICC), who will announce the candidate, he said.

To a question, he said the party was not waiting for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners BJP-JD(S) to announce its candidate. The announcement of Congress candidate for Channapatna bypolls was not dependent on the candidate to be fielded by the rivals, he said.

He pointed out that the BJP, which had already announced its candidates for the Shiggaon and Tsandur constituencies, appears to have ceded the Channapatna constituency to its alliance partner JD(S) as it was held by Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy, who resigned from the constituency after his election as Mandya MP.

To a question, he said he was not aware whether the JD(S) would field Mr. Yogeshwar, Mr. Kumaraswamy’s wife Anitha or his son Nikhil from the constituency.

He said the party leadership in the State has decided to allow E. Tukaram, Ballari MP, who resigned from the Tsandur Assembly seat, to recommend either his wife or daughter as the Congress candidate.

The party candidates for Channapatna and Shiggaon will also be announced soon, he said adding that Mr. Siddaramaiah held a detailed meeting with Ministers and other party leaders in Bengaluru on Sunday and the party was determined to win all the three seats, where byelections are scheduled on November 13.

Published - October 21, 2024 09:09 pm IST