Congress to workers: Ensure Nikhil Kumaraswamy’s win, get Assembly tickets

Bengaluru: To ensure that Mandya Congress leaders work for the victory of Janata Dal (Secular) candidate Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, in Mandya parliamentary seat, the state Congress unit has come out with a novel 'performance-based tickets' for all MLA aspirants in the coming elections.

The idea come about as a section of defeated Congress legislators have refused to work for the JD(S) candidate in the Lok Sabha polls to be held on April 18.

Already, the chief minister is said to be upset with some of the defeated Congress candidates of 2018 Assembly polls, like Mr N. Cheluvarayaswamy, Mr Ramesh Bandisiddegowda and Mr P.M. Narendra Swamy, who so far have failed to respond to the party high command's call to campaign for the JD(S) candidate. On Friday, JD(S) and Congress leaders of Mandya convened a joint press conference to announce that leaders and workers from the two parties would work together for the coming elections. Barring former MLA Sampangi, former minister M.S. Atmanand and Mr Amaravathi Chandrashekar, a right-hand man of late actor and ex-minister M.H. Ambareesh, none of the Congress leaders attended the meeting. This sent out a message that former JD(S) legislators, who are now in Congress, are not happy with the seat-sharing arrangement and all is not well within the district Congress unit.

Sources told Deccan Chronicle that while a section of the Congress agreed to work with the JD(S), the other decided to distance itself from campaigning as they felt that the party high command has pledged its self-respect to the JD(S). Besides, the suspension of a few Congress workers for identifying themselves with Ms Sumalatha Ambareesh, Mr Ambareesh's wife who is contesting as an independent, had angered the leaders. They had criticised the KPCC for taking disproportionately strong action against its own workers to please the JD(S). JD(S) leaders warned Congress leaders that their party workers too would do the same in the 20 Lok Sabha seats where Congress candidates are contesting. This had put the Congress in a fix as they have to depend on JD(S) in some Vokkaliga-dominated seats in south Karnataka districts.

To checkmate the disgruntled leaders, the state leadership had sent a strong word to district leaders that the party would deny Assembly poll tickets in 2023 to those who refuse to work for the JD(S) candidate, sources said. The Congress believes that this will ensure that the party leaders work in the constituency.

In fact, Mr Amaravathi Chandrashekar, who was denied a ticket during the assembly polls, has now come out of the shell and agreed to work for the JD(S) candidate. But it is yet to be seen whether this formula works as the next Assembly polls are still good four years away and a lot could change during that time, the sources said.