The state unit of Congress has constituted its screening committee for the upcoming Karnataka assembly election, people privy to the matter said on Tuesday.
The committee will be led by senior Congress leader Mohan Prakash, said the people. Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge has given a nod to the screening committee and approved Prakash as the chairman along with party MPs Neeraj Dangi, Mohammad Jawed and Saptagiri Ulaka as its members, said one of the people quoted above.
State Congress chief DK Shivakumar, former chief minister Siddaramaiah, AICC in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, and senior leaders BK Hariprasad, MB Patil, G Parameshwara and AICC secretaries in-charge of the state will be ex officio members of the panel.
Elections in Karnataka are likely to be held in April-May. Earlier, the Karnataka Pradesh Election Committee had held a meeting on February 2 to shortlist the candidates. Once the committee recommends candidates, the newly formed screening committee approves the party candidates for upcoming polls.
Earlier, Congress had announced it “will comfortably win 136 seats” in upcoming assembly elections in the state. Speaking to reporters, KPCC president Shivakumar said: “The meeting to finalise the candidates’ list for assembly elections was conducted smoothly without any objections or dissatisfaction among leaders”.
“By and large all of them have done a good job. All our MLAs have worked… despite being in Opposition and non-cooperation from the BJP government, all of them have worked for the people,” Shivakumar said while replying to a query if all the sitting MLAs will get the ticket. The Congress currently has 69 MLAs in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.
“The party high command (from Delhi) had commissioned a survey… we (state unit) too have got a survey done… keeping all that in mind, we will send a list to the central election committee and screening committee, after which they will finalise. We will announce the list as soon as possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka assembly and former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday attacked the ruling BJP government in the state, alleging that the “highest number of Hindus” were killed during the tenure of the saffron party.
“During our tenure, not only Hindus but minorities were also killed. They are all killed for different reasons. The murders of Hindus during Congress was due to the RSS and the BJP,” he said.
“When Paresh Mesta was (found) suspiciously dead, BJP leaders created huge ruckus. The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. What happened later?” he asked.
Mesta’s body was recovered from a pond under mysterious circumstances in Honnavar in Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada district on December 6, 2017, soon after which communal riots broke out in the area.
In the report submitted before a local court on Monday in Honnavar, the CBI had stated: “Mesta died after slipping into a pond while trying to run away from a communal clash”.
