The Congress party on Saturday resolved the internal tussle over its Kolar Lok Sabha candidate by naming K V Gowtham for the seat. Gowtham is the current Bengaluru Central District Congress Committee President and hails from Kolar.
The decision comes amidst a simmering rift within the party ranks in Kolar. Five Congress legislators from the district, along with Karnataka Minister for Food and Civil Supplies K H Muniyappa, had threatened to resign if Muniyappa’s son-in-law Chikka Peddanna was not fielded as the candidate.
Muniyappa had lobbied hard for Peddanna’s candidature, while the five MLAs, including minister M C Sudhakar, vehemently opposed the move, warning of en masse resignations. Another legislator had adopted a wait-and-watch approach before taking a “final call.”
By naming Gowtham, the son of former Bengaluru Mayor K V Vijay Kumar, the Congress party has effectively ignored Muniyappa’s demands, opting for a candidate with strong local roots.
The Kolar Lok Sabha seat has been allocated to the Janata Dal (Secular) by the BJP as part of their alliance. The JD(S) has declared M Mallesh Babu as its candidate for the constituency.
The Congress party’s decision to field Gowtham appears to be an attempt to quell the dissent within its ranks in Kolar while presenting a formidable candidate to take on the JD(S) in the upcoming polls.