Pressure on ministers to secure Lok Sabha poll results

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Ministers in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet are facing immense pressure to ensure victories for Congress in a substantial number of seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Karnataka goes to polls in two phases on April 26 and May 7. Moreover, the pressure becomes significant when the context is taken into account.

The ministers had refused to contest the general elections because in their view, they had expended a lot of resources and efforts to secure a 135 seat majority for the Congress in last year’s Assembly elections.

They had bagged ministries and didn’t want to let go of them. Instead, the Cabinet members demanded that their children be given tickets, to which the Congress high command had agreed but with conditions.

The ministers have to ensure their children win. Moreover, the party’s central leadership has let the ministers know that failure to secure significant leads in their own Assembly constituencies may result in expulsion from the Cabinet.

The MLAs who have been rewarded with the chairpersonship of state-run Boards and Corporations have also been given a similar message: Ensure massive leads in your own Assembly segments or you will be removed.

Congress has on multiple occasions said they’ll be working to secure 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

CM makes curious comments

This was reflected in Siddaramaiah’s recent speech in his constituency Varuna where he asked his supporters to ensure he remained the CM by giving Congress candidate from Chamarajanagara Sunil Bose a lead of at least 60,000 from the segment.

Bose is the son of Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa and will be taking on BJP candidate S Balaraj.

The CM is also tasked with securing a victory for the Congress candidate from Mysuru-Kodagu M Lakshman.

BJP has fielded the Mysuru royal family heir Yaduveer Wodeyar from the seat. Deputy CM DK Shivakumar on the other hand will have an easier in ensuring a large lead in his seat Kanakapura for his brother and Bengaluru Rural candidate DK Suresh, who will be the favourite against BJP candidate Dr Manjunath, who is the son-in-law of JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda.

Moreover, the Congress high command has promised Shivakumar the CM’s post for the latter half of the five-year term.

Will kids be alright?

As many as five children of ministers have secured tickets for the general elections.

Notable among the names was Bengaluru South candidate and former MLA Sowmya Reddy, the daughter of Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who’ll be taking on the incumbent BJP MP Tejasvi Surya.

Priyanka, the daughter of Public Works Minister Satish Jarkoholi, will be contesting from Chikkodi against saffron party MP Annasaheb Jolle.

Minister for Child and Women’s Development Laxmi Hebbalkar’s son Mrunal will be contesting from Belagavi against former CM Jagadish Shettar.

Sagar, the son of Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre, is being fielded from Bidar against Union Minister Bhagwant Khuba. Minister for Agricultural Marketing Shivanand Patil’s daughter Samyukta will contest from Bagalkote against BJP MP PC Gaddigoudar.