Congress legislators from Ballari, who had abstained from attending meetings during the last two to three days, finally turned up for a meeting, chaired by former Chief Minister Siddarmaaiah, on Friday, and the party is expected to announce candidates for Ballari and Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituencies on Saturday.
The legislators are believed to have agreed to support a candidate finalised by the party high command for the Ballari Lok Sabha constituency.
KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao said candidates for the Ballari and Shivamogga Lok Sabha bypolls would be finalised after discussions with party president Rahul Gandhi, who is arriving in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Except Anil Lad, all five party legislators attended the meeting convened at the party office on Friday. Noticing the presence of legislators, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the party had the ability to win the seat if all leaders remained united and fought collectively against the BJP candidate Shanta, former MP and sister of B. Sriramulu, BJP leader and MLA.
In an apparent snub to Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is in charge of Ballari district, only a couple of MLAs attended the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday.
‘No controversy’
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters after the meeting Mr. Shivakumar said there was no controversy on the selection of candidate for the Ballari seat. There were nearly 12 aspirants for party ticket. The Congress and JD(S) would collectively fight against the BJP candidate in Ballari, he said.
Sources said that differences among party MLAs in Ballari district had been causing hiccups for the party in selecting the candidate.
