Bengaluru: Congress president Rahul Gandhi has reportedly instructed senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge to look into the controversy over the selection of a candidate for the November 3 Ballari LS bypoll.
Mr Gandhi, who was in the city to interact with former HAL employees, had lunch with party leaders at the Kumara Krupa guesthouse and when the issue cropped up, reportedly asked Mr Kharge to look into it as he hails from the Hyderabad Karnataka region.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who was also invited to the luncheon hosted by the party for Mr Gandhi, had a brief one-on-one meeting with him.
The selection of a candidate for Ballari has become a thorn in the side of the party with Minister D.K. Shivakumar opposing candidates of Congress leader Ramesh Jarkiholi’s choice and Minister Santhosh Lad promoting a candidate of his own.
