Congress announces new face for Kolar Lok Sabha seat

Bengaluru, March 30 (IANS) The Congress party on Saturday announced the candidate for the Kolar parliamentary seat in Karnataka, amid infighting.

The grand old party had kept the announcement of this seat pending as five legislators, including a Cabinet minister threatened to submit their resignations over ticket allotment.

The ticket has finally been allotted to KV Gowtham, son of former Bengaluru Mayor Vijaykumar.

Gowtham hails from Kolar and his father is known as a loyal worker of the Congress party.

The party had announced candidates for all 27 Lok Sabha seats and kept the Kolar ticket pending following high drama by MLAs who went to the state legislature to submit their resignations in opposition to the ticket to Chikka Peddanna, son-in-law of Minister for Food, KH Muniyappa.

They argued that Minister Muniyappa’s daughter Roopkala Shashidhar was an MLA and had been made Chairperson of the Karnataka State Handicrafts Corporation and it would be unfair to give a ticket to his family again.

In a veiled ultimatum to the party, Minister Muniyappa had told the high command that he would ensure victory of the Congress candidate if the ticket was allotted to his son-in-law.

The Congress leadership found a new face for the constituency to quell the dissidence.

With the announcement of candidates for the Kolar MP seat, the Congress has completed the announcement of candidates for all 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state.