Bengaluru: This list would have sent the jitters through many a Congressman's heart though it ultimately proved to be fake! And most of all CM Siddaramaiah after seeing the name of his rival for the CM post and veteran, Mallikarjun Kharge on the list, for Chittapur constituency in Kalaburagi.
Through Tuesday, the Congress brains trust from Karnataka who had gathered at Karnataka Bhavan in Delhi to thrash out the list of probable on who will make the cut for the do or die poll battle on May 12, fobbed off all queries saying that the final list would not be ready, at least not before the next 48 hours.
Vetting the list were Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with veteran Congressman Madhusudan Mistry, KPCC president Dr. G. Parameshwar and Karnataka election in-charge KC Venugopal who had cleared Belagavi and Mysuru districts, and had turned their attention to Kalaburagi and Bengaluru before they planned to head back to the state Tuesday night.
As speculation raged on whether failing health would cut short the hopes of Davangere South MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Mandya MLA Ambareesh, Badami MLA BB Chimmannakatti and Hanagal MLA Manohar Tahasildar from getting tickets, a list of 131 candidates was put out on a WhatsApp messaging app, sending shockwaves across the state.
On the What'sApp list was the big shocker - Congress heavyweight, M. Mallikarjun Kharge had been named for Chittapur Assembly constituency though he is an MP while the Shanthinagar constituency in the IT capital was not going to N.A. Haris!
Cops acting like Cong’s puppet: BJP to poll panel
The BJP on Tuesday complained to the state poll panel's chief that the police were acting like the ruling Congress' "puppet," harassing and implicating its party workers in criminal cases in the run up to the May 12 assembly polls.
In its memorandum to Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar, the saffron party also complained of 'rigid and arbitrary" interpretation of the Model Code by poll panel's officials and said it was creating problems for them. A BJP delegation, including Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ananth Kumar and party general secretary P Muralidhar Rao met CEC and submitted the party's memorandum to him.
Accusing police of harassing BJP workers and its others sympathisers, the memorandum said false cases were being lodged against them. "The Police Department is acting as a puppet of the ruling Congress party, arresting several right wing activists. No action has been taken against the biased officials," it said. The BJP petition also referred to the implementation of the election code of conduct with "rigid and arbitrary interpretation."
There was complete consternation over the Mandya seat and several others. Until it sank in that it was false.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah quickly took to Twitter to clear the air, that the list which was in circulation among media persons was fake. The work of the BJP fake news factory!
Congress leaders on Twitter, ran hash tag campaign #FakeNewsFactory to deride BJP social media cell and accusing the latter of circulating a fake list to create confusion among the Congress workers.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's tweet said: “I am told a list of Congress candidates for Karnataka elections is under circulation. The AICC has not approved the list of candidates yet. The 'List' under circulation is fake. It has been done to create confusion. Please don't patronise products of #FakeNewsFactory."
While @INCKarnataka stated on its Twitter handle, “A fake list of @INCKarnataka candidates for the upcoming assembly elections is being spread on social media. Request Media not to circulate it."
AICC general secretary, K.C. Venugopal too issued a statement on KPCC WhatsApp group stating that the list was fake and added that the Central Election Committee meeting was yet to take place, hence, the list circulated was fake.
