Bengaluru: It seems Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has put Kannada before his party. The CM has reportedly refused to send the Gandhi family's close friend Sam Pitroda and AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.
During a meeting with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah told him that it would be unwise to send “outsiders” to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka ahead of the crucial Assembly elections.
Karnataka will vote on March 23 to elect four members to Rajya Sabha. With the current strength in the Assembly, the ruling Congress can easily elect two MPs, the opposition can elect BJP one and there will be a fight for the fourth seat between the Congress and the JDS.
Siddaramaiah has turned down JDS's demand for the fourth seat saying that the Congress will field its own candidate. In 2016, the Congress had won three seats with the help of JDS rebel MLAs.
Besides technocrat Sam Pitroda, senior Congress leaders Janardhana Dwivedi and Meira Kumar are also trying to enter the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.
But the Chief Minister, who is acutely aware of the strong Kannada sentiments in the state, has bluntly told the high command that it was not possible for him to nominate non-Kannadigas to the Rajya Sabha.
Rahul Gandhi has reportedly asked Siddaramaiah to give him some time to think about it. The CM wants to send one minority, one Dalit, and one Lingayat to the Upper House of the Parliament keeping the Assembly elections in mind.
Former Union minister K Rahman Khan, who has already completed four terms, is once again lobbying for the fifth term. But the party is not keen on renominating him and is favouring state cabinet minister R Roshan Baig.
Businessman Rajeev Chandrashekhar who has won twice as an "independent" with the help of all three political parties in 2006 and 2012 is now trying for a BJP ticket. To shed his outsider tag, he has even started tweeting in Kannada and posting his Kannada videos on Facebook.
The state BJP has recommended the names Chandrashekhar and businessman Vijaya Sankeshwar's names for the lone Rajya Sabha seat it can win. The JDS has decided to field a Mangalore-based industrialist B M Farooq.
All Kannada organisations have demanded that only a Kannadiga should be sent to Rajya Sabha and it has made the job of selecting candidates difficult for the Congress and the BJP.
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