Cong workers hold sit in outside KPCC

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru / Ballari: The 'Grand Old Party' appears to be facing a problem of plenty as workers staged a protest outside the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office in Bengaluru as former BJP MLA from Kudligi in Ballari district NY Gopalkrishna joined the Congress party here on Monday.

The workers had been supporters of Congress leader Yogesh Babu who contested from Molakalmuru constituency in Chitradurga district and lost to the State Transport Minister B Sriramulu by over 42,000 votes. Goplakrishna, a former Congressman has won from Molakalmuru four times and is rumoured to be the party candidate for the seat. This caused Babu’s supporters to picket the KPCC office on Queen’s Road with placards.

However, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Shivakumar, who was eventually surrounded by Babu’s supporters, denied that new inductees had been promised tickets from certain constituencies, insisting that they had joined “unconditionally.”

Back on January 25, Rajajinagar ticket aspirant Bhavya Narasimhamurthy and her workers had surrounded Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah and had requested him to not give the party ticket from the constituency to Putanna, a BJP MLC who had joined Congress on the day. There has been a grouse of party loyalists that are being sidelined in favour of turncoats who have arrived from the BJP and JD(S).