Facing hectic lobbying and intra-group pressures, the Congress on Thursday continued to wrestle with the list of probable candidates for the May 5 elections to the State Legislative Assembly.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah and several other senior leaders are camping in Delhi looking for a direction from the party high command to finalise the list.
Sonia for women power
Sources in the party said that All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi, who is heading the Central Election Committee of the party, expressed displeasure over only a few women candidates figuring in the list of probables. There are several women aspirants seeking ticket to contest elections and are camping in the national capital.
The former Minister Motamma, State Congress women wing’s chief Manjula Naidu, actor Umashree, the former Minister Rani Satish, the former MP Tejaswini Ramesh, the former Union Minister Taradevi Siddartha, the former MLC Mallajamma, the former MLC Jalaja Naik, and several women members have been seeking ticket from the party high command. “But only names of a couple of women candidates are found in the list prepared by the KPCC,” sources said.
In the last Assembly elections, the Congress fielded 11 women candidates and all of them were defeated. There are only six women members in the present lower house — three from the Janata Dal (Secular) and three from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Members of the women wing of the KPCC have been demanding at least one seat for women in each district or Lok Sabha constituency. “There are 35 women candidates seeking ticket. If any injustice to us, we will stage a dharna in front of 10 Janpath,” an office-bearer of the State women’s wing told The Hindu from Delhi.
