Lobbying for Congress nomination to Legislative Council polls intensifies in Mysuru

Lobbying for nomination by the ruling Congress for elections to the Legislative Council from Assembly has intensified in Mysuru.

With the Election Commission announcing the biennial election to Legislative Council by members of Legislative Assembly to fill the 11 seats on June 13, aspirants have begun vying for a ticket from the Congress party, which is expected to win seven seats as per its existing strength in the Assembly.

Apart from former MLA Yathindra Siddaramaiah, who had opted out of contest from Varuna assembly constituency in favour of his father Siddaramaiah, the other Congress leaders from Mysuru aspiring for a nomination by the party to contest the elections to the Legislative Council from Assembly include State Mahila Congress chief Pushpa Amarnath, Mysuru District Congress Committee president B.J. Vijaykumar, and former Chairperson of Mysuru Paints and Varnishes H.A. Venkatesh.

The lobbying reached fever pitch when Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was in Mysuru over the last three days.

A large number of Ms. Pushpa Amarnath’s supporters gathered outside the residence of Minister for Social Welfare H.C. Mahadevappa, who is also the Minister in charge of Mysuru district, to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister through Mr. Mahadevappa to nominate her from the Congress party for the elections to the Legislative Council from the Assembly.

Ms. Amarnath, who had served two terms as member of Mysuru Zilla Panchayat including one term as its president, had been denied the party ticket both in the Assembly elections of 2023 as well as the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. Presently serving as the Vice-Chairperson of the State’s Guarantee Schemes Implementation Committee, Ms. Amarnath’s supporters have urged the Chief Minister to consider her candidature under either women’s quota or Dalit quota.

A large number of her supporters from her native in Hunsur and Bannur turned up outside Mr. Mahadevappa’s house on Thursday to urge the Congress party to field her as its candidate in the elections to the Legislative Council.

On Saturday, a round-table conference was organised at a hotel in the city by Karnataka State Backward Classes Awareness Forum and other progressive organisations of Mysuru in support of Mr. Vijaykumar’s candidature.

Mr. Vijaykumar, who had aspired for the party’s ticket to contest the recent Lok Sabha elections from Mysuru, is claiming to enjoy the support of DSS and Raitha Sangha in his bid for the party’s nomination to contest the elections to Legislative Council from the Assembly.

Mr. Venkatesh, who had served as the Chairperson of Mysuru Paints and Varnishes, has urged Mr. Siddaramaiah to consider his name for the party’s nomination in the elections to the Legislative Council from the Assembly keeping in mind his 30 years of service to the party starting from NSUI and Youth Congress to various other posts.

Mr. Venkatesh, who had served as an elected member of University of Mysore’s Syndicate for three terms, was presently one of spokespersons of the KPCC.

Mr. Venkatesh had also brought his candidature to the notice of KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar and Home Minister G. Parameshwar.