All-India Congress Committee secretary Prakash Joshi, who is in charge of the party’s internal elections to choose candidates for select Lok Sabha constituencies, has defended the party decision to reject the nomination of Harsha Moily, son of Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas M. Veerappa Moily, for the Dakshina Kannada primary. He told The Hindu here that the level of social work done by Mr. Harsha Moily was considered before rejecting his nomination papers. The bar for contesting as a person engaged in social service was high.
“It is for outstanding social service,” he said, and added that Mr. Harsha Moily was running a private limited company.
About Mr. Harsha Moily’s contention that the party should not leave it to one person to take a decision whether or not an aspirant was qualified to contest, Mr. Joshi said, “Then, how should we do it?”
Mr. Joshi is in Mangalore to supervise the polling for the Dakshina Kannada primary on Sunday. After Mr. Harsha Moily’s exit, the former Union Minister B. Janardhana Poojary and vice-president of the State unit’s Minority Cell U. Kanachur Monu are in the fray.
About dissatisfaction among party workers that grassroots level activists have been ignored in the process, Mr. Joshi said they could be included in the future primaries.
