Bengaluru: The Congress is seriously considering fielding a candidate with a clean slate in the coming by-election to Nanjangud Assembly constituency in the wake of corruption charges being made against PWD Minister Dr H C Mahadevappa whose son, Mr Sunil Bose was tipped to be the Congress candidate.
Till recently, the Congress and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were keen on proposing Mr Bose's name to the high command as the party candidate for Nanjangud against former revenue minister, Mr V Srinivas Prasad who had been seething with anger to take revenge against his former party for dropping him from the state cabinet. Mr Siddaramaiah, while addressing a party rally, had even appealed to voters to support Mr Bose.
But after the arrest of two senior government officials by the CBI and ED on charges of possessing unaccounted properties worth crores of rupees, rumors were rife that the duo were close to Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Mahadevappa. Mr Bose's candidature would give more ammunition to the opposition to flay the ruling party for being close to corrupt babus.
The Congress also does not want to face embarrassment if Dr Mahadevappa gets summons from the CBI or ED to appear them for questioning based on the revelations made by two officers, T.N. Chikkarayappa, and S.C. Jayachandra, once the election process starts.
Sources told Deccan Chronicle that Chamarajanagar MP Mr Dhruvanarayan had refused to contest the by-poll but suggested that his relative, Mr Kalale Keshavamurthy who unsuccessfully contested on a JD (S) ticket in 2013 Assembly polls and lost to Srinivasa Prasad by a narrow margin, could be lured to the Congress.
Mr Keshavamurthy was said to be a close follower of former minister D.T. Jayakumar and said to have a strong hold on the constituency. In case he contests on the Congress ticket, he would definitely give a tough fight to Mr Srinivasa Prasad. Local leaders openly admit that Mr Keshvamurthy was always a better choice than Mr Bose.
