Congress moves to rope in Pramoda Devi, Basavaraj

Efforts are afoot in some quarters of the Congress to request Pramoda Devi, wife of the former Congress MP from Mysore, late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, to contest in the Lok Sabha elections.

This seems to have the backing of the top brass of the Congress, especially the high command, if the statement of sitting MP H. Vishwanath is to be believed.

Observers say that during his recent visit to Karnataka, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi found time to meet Ms. Pramoda Devi, though party sources said he met her to convey his condolence on her recent bereavement.

Meanwhile, there were news reports about the possibility of her being fielded by the Janata Dal (Secular) and that its leader, H.D. Kumaraswamy, also met her. But, she was quick to deny all such rumours and clarified that she was not going to contest in the Lok Sabha elections.

Other probabilities

In another development, some leaders, who are reportedly close to Bharatiya Janata Party MP G.S. Basavaraj from Tumkur, are trying to bring him back to the Congress to field him from the parliamentary seat in the district. But, some members in the party have serious reservations about it as they feel that those who criticised AICC president Sonia Gandhi should not be supported.

At the same time, the party is said to have recommended the names of Santosh Jayachandra, son of Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra, and the former MLA Mudduhanume Gowda for ticket in the constituency.

Party workers from Chickballapur are not enthusiastic about the admission of J. Narasimhaswamy, son of the former Union Minister R.L. Jalappa, into the party. This is because he deserted the party during Operation Kamala to join the BJP and became chairman of the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board in 2008.

Recommendations

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, KPCC president G. Parameshwara and other members of the Pradesh Election Committee here on Wednesday reportedly decided to recommend the names of nine Lok Sabha members of the State only, including Union Ministers, for giving B forms. AICC general secretary B.K. Hariprasad was recommended for two constituencies — Karwar and Bangalore North.

Nivedith Alva, son of Governor Margaret Alva, and Prashat Deshpande, son of Minister for Higher Education R.V. Deshpande have been recommended for the Karwar seat.