Accounts frozen; ministers to fund kin's campaign?

Maqsood Maniyar| NT

Bengaluru: The motive behind Congress fielding six candidates related to ministers is said to be the fact that the cash-strapped party expects the Cabinet members to foot the campaign bill for their kin.

The initial plan was to field the ministers themselves for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections but they were vehemently opposed to it.

Members of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet were of the opinion that they had expended a lot of time and labour to ensure a 135 seat victory for the Congress in last May’s Assembly elections.

They had secured ministries for five years and didn’t want to jeopardize their prospects.

Moreover, the party’s state leadership also became wary of vacating too many Assembly seats, which might give the BJP a chance to use their money power to stage another “Operation Kamala”, a euphemism for poaching of MLAs.

The Congress is facing criticism from some quarters that it has resorted once again to “dynastic politics” but party insiders believe it was a wise decision given the fund crunch.

Moreover, the ministers, in most cases parents, would be expected to ensure a victory for the candidates for whom they lobbied. Congress has so far named 24 candidates for the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies.

The only seats for which candidates have not been named are Chamarajanagara, Kolar, Chikkaballapura and Ballari. It’s all relative Notable among the kin of Cabinet members who got tickets was Bengaluru South candidate and former MLA Sowmya Reddy, the daughter of Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy.

She will be contesting against Tejasvi Surya. The daughter of Public Works Minister Satish Jarkoholi, Priyanka, will be contesting from Chikkodi against MP Annasaheb Jolle.

Mrunal, the son of Minister for Child and Women’s Development Laxmi Hebbalkar will be contesting from Belagavi.