‘Thank you Mr Shettar’: Cong nominates ex-CM for MLC seat

Umar Sharieef | NT

Bengaluru: After hectic brainstorming for picking the candidates for the forthcoming MLC polls, the Congress party has decided to nominate former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Minister for Irrigation, Science and Technology N S Boseraju and Tippanna Kamaknur for the three seats.

Shettar is a senior Lingayat leader who jumped from the BJP to the Congress ahead of the recently concluded assembly elections. There are reports that the Congress nominated Shettar as it does not want to earn the wrath of the Lingayats. Political analyst and dean of the political science department at Mysuru University Muzaffar Azadi dubbed the move as a thanksgiving gesture to the former CM.

“Shettar jumped from the BJP to Congress and helped increase the tally of the party in terms of Lingayat votes. He however lost the assembly election. Recognizing his contributions and commitment, the Congress has decided to nominate him to express its gratitude’’, he said.

Azadi also noted that it was a misconception that the Lingayats backed the Congress because of Shettar’s exit from the BJP, adding there were multiple reasons including anti-incumbency for the BJP’s defeat. Interestingly, the party didn’t pick SR Patil, another prominent Lingayat leader for the Council seat. The party also nominated Minister Boseraju, a cabinet minister but not a legislator. He has served as an MLA twice and as an MLC once. He is also a loyalist of the Gandhi family.

A former nominated MLC, Tippanna Kamaknur, is the third Congress candidate. With this, the speculations that a Muslim candidate and former minister H M Revanna could be considered for the seats has been laid to rest. The nomination for the election scheduled for June 30 begins on Tuesday