Bengaluru: Dissidence in the Congress has forced its leaders to cancel the scheduled meetings in Karnataka's Kolar and Hassan districts. Last Friday, the Congress planned “Prajadwhani -2”, a programme to launch the campaign from Kurudumale temple in Mulbagal in Kolar and Hassan. GC Chandrashekar, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working presi - dent said both the events in Kolar and Hassan have been deferred indefinitely and a revised date will be announced later. Both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar were to attend the party events. Admitting differences in Kolar, Siddaramaiah said everything will be sorted out amicably. Shivakumar said it was a misunderstanding. “We have not announced any candidate for Kolar,’’ he said, adding a meeting has been convened to iron out the differences and fight the poll as a unit.
Dynamics in Kolar
In Kolar, about 60 km from Bengaluru, Congress legislators including Higher Education Minister Dr MC Sudhakar threatened to resign if a ticket was given to any member of the family of Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa. The minister and MLAs KY Nannje Gowda (Malur) and Kothanur Manju (Kolar) booked air tickets to Mangaluru to meet Karnataka Assembly Speaker UT Khadar while two MLCs Nasir Ahamed and Anil Kumar came to Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti’s chamber to submit their resignations. Later, they were persuaded by Kolar in-charge and Urban Development Minister Byrethi Suresh not to take extreme steps. Speaking to the Free Press Journal, Dr Sudhakar said he is against giving a ticket to anyone from Muniyappa’s family. “Since my party senior leaders have asked me not to take any extreme step, I have kept quiet.
Let them decide on the candidate, then I will speak,’’ he said, refusing to comment any further. Muniyappa has been battling dissent within his party since the 2019 LS poll. He believes a group of party leaders led by former assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar were instrumental in defeating him. Ramesh Kumar has suggested the candidature of former Rajya Sabha member L Hanumanthaiah who belongs to SC (right). In Hassan, the stronghold of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda (also his home district) party workers in Arakalagudu Assembly are up in arms against Cooperation Minister K Rajanna, who is also the district in charge minister. At a meeting of Congress workers in Arkalgud constituency, followers of Sridhar Gowda, who defeated Congress candidate in the 2023 Assembly election, disrupted the meeting when Rajanna made a caustic remarks against their leader.
Sridhar Gowda’s comment
About Sridhar Gowda’s comment that he will ensure the Congress will give a big lead from Arakalagudu, Rajanna sarcastically remarked “that is why you were pushed to a third place.’’ This sparked a heated argument between the two even as Sridhar Gowda’s followers took plastic chairs and started throwing at the minister disrupting the meeting and ending it abruptly. Muniyappa a prominent SC (left) leader in Karnataka and has represented Kolar (SC) for 7 terms before losing in 2019. In 2023, he contested the assembly poll from Devanahalli (SC) and won
