Minister for Sugar and Small Scale Industries Prakash B. Hukkeri said here on Wednesday that he was not interested in contesting the Lok Sabha election from Chikkodi in Belgaum district.
“I want to continue as Minister and serve the people of my constituency. I don’t want to desert the constituency after laying the foundation stone for several works in the last nine months,” he told The Hindu .
The Minister has written to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and All-India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Karnataka Digvijay Singh and expressed his desire against contesting the election.
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In 2009, Mr. Hukkeri had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election against Ramesh Katti of the Bharatiya Janata Party and lost by a margin of over 50,000 votes.
Sources in the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said the party high command had decided to field Mr. Hukkeri from the constituency and his name was expected to be announced in the second list of candidates.
Mr. Hukkeri’s contention, however, was that he had not even completed one year as Minister in the Siddaramaiah government. Moreover, many works were yet to be completed in the Chikkodi-Sadalaga Assembly constituency, he said. The Minister said he would extend full support and campaign in favour of any candidate nominated by the party.
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According to KPCC sources, C.P. Yogeshwar, Samajwadi Party MLA, is expected to rejoin the Congress in a day or two. The party high command has cleared his readmission to the party, sources said.
Mr. Yogeshwar left the Congress and joined the BJP in 2009 and served as a Minister in the BJP government. On the eve of the 2013 Assembly elections, he quit the BJP and joined the SP and retained the Channapatna constituency.