Bengaluru: With former Union minister, P. Chidambaram’s name doing the rounds for a Rajya Sabha berth from Karnataka and the BJP reportedly deciding to renominate Union minister, M. Venkaiah Naidu from the state, several Congress leaders have opposed the idea of fielding an outsider.
KPCC vice president, Dr B.L. Shankar and Kannada and Culture minister, Umashree on Monday separately asserted that the KPCC would send leaders from the state instead of sending outsiders to the Rajya Sabha.
Speaking to reporters at the KPCC office, Ms Umashree said, “I do not understand, why the state Congress should ever think of sending anyone from another state? Ours is a party where there is no dearth of leaders, therefore, I feel the party will certainly pick a leader from the state instead of sending an outsider.”
Dr Shankar asserted that the BJP had cultivated such a norm but it was never the Congress party’s stand to send outsiders, “Then CM Ramkrishna Hegde in the mid-eighties started this trend of sending outsiders to Rajya Sabha. He sent noted Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani to the Upper House. At that time too, several leaders in Janata Parivar opposed it. Even now, there is opposition in the Congress if it chooses to field anyone from outside. I feel it is wrong to choose outsiders,” he contended.
Ms Umashree added that though Mr Chidambaram’s name is doing the rounds, the state unit is unlikely to choose him. “There are several artists, writers and theatre personalities who toiled along with our party leaders ahead of the 2013 Assembly polls, we need to send one of them to the Rajya Sabha,” she remarked.
