Congress leader and former Minister Kumar Bangarappa on Tuesday accused certain party leaders of conspiring against him to deprive him of party ticket to contest from the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency.
He, however, said he would not file nomination papers from the constituency as a rebel candidate, as he had planned earlier. He was abiding by the advice of party leaders in the State and his well-wishers, Mr. Bangarappa told presspersons here.
He, however, said he was yet to decide on campaigning for the Congress.
The Congress leader said he would make public the names of leaders who allegedly conspired against him at an appropriate time.
Mr. Bangarappa said that only he or Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa had the strength to defeat B.S. Yeddyurappa, BJP candidate from Shimoga. He said he was not aware how Manjunath Bhandary secured Congress ticket.
He had earlier decided enter the poll fray as an Independent as he was dejected at the goings-on, he said. Mr. Bangarappa said he would not indulge in any anti-party activity but go by the diktat of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.
The Congress leader alleged that his brother (Madhu Bangarappa of the Janata Dal-Secular) tried to use his name to achieve “political ends”, and added that he would not buckle under any pressure.
On his sister Geetha Shivarajkumar who is the JD(S) candidate from Shimoga, he said if need arose, he would campaign against her. Politics and relationship were different issues, Mr. Kumar Bangarappa said.
