Lok Sabha Elections: Kolar Becomes a Political Minefield for Congress Due to Minister’s Love for Son-in-Law

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state unit president DK Shivakumar of the Congress are still having their schedules disrupted by a gang of MLAs vying for dominance in the Kolar district of Karnataka, along with a cabinet minister.

To address the problem that has sharpened the attention on “dynasty politics,” Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had to invest many hours. When the offspring of many cabinet members were proposed to run in the next Lok Sabha elections, the party faced no issues. However, there is significant resistance to Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa’s attempts to secure his son-in-law Chikanna Pedanna’s party ticket, with two MLCs and five MLAs threatening to leave.

The lawmakers’ main grievance is that the Muniyappa family is not allowed to have a ministerial position, the head of a state body for the daughter who is already an MLA, and now there may be a son-in-law who might be elected to the Lok Sabha.

After the lawmakers met with Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, the deputy chief minister, the former has simply said that they would talk about the matter with Mallikarjuna Kharge, the national president of the Congress. A self-assured Siddaramaiah has said that the issue would be handled quickly and that each angry MLA will be talked to separately.

Karnataka minister MC Sudhakar, Kothur MLA G Manjunath, Malur MLA KY Nanjegowda, Bangarpet MLA SN Narayanaswamy, and MLCs Anil Kumar and Naseer Ahmed are among those demonstrating against the nepotism of the Muniyappa dynasty.

Siddaramaiah urged the dissident leaders to hold off on making any snap choices and to wait for the Congress high command to make the ultimate decision, according to Congress sources with direct knowledge of the situation, who spoke with News18. According to information obtained, the Chief Minister is scheduled to meet with Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Kharge to explain to them why the Congressmen who are demonstrating are opposed to Pedanna’s candidacy.

One MLA referred to the Dalit Right and Dalit Left sects that make up Karnataka’s Scheduled Castes and said, “We continue to say that any worthy candidate, be it from the SC Left or SC Right, should be given the Kolar Lok Sabha ticket, but we are totally opposed to Muniyappa and his family’s dominance.”

“The CM has communicated to the dissenting leaders that he and Shivakumar will do all that they can to convince the high command on their demand,” said a senior party politician who was informed of the situation. Muniyappa will eventually have to give up since the Karnataka Congress has to pay attention to what the local authorities are requesting. They are the ones who do groundwork. Muniyappa seems to be exerting pressure, but he will eventually be stopped.

The leaders of the opposition also said that they would end their protest if a candidate from the SC Left or SC Right was selected, but not if a member of Muniyappa’s family was. This was discussed with the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister. It is said that the group is inclined to grant a ticket this time around to a candidate from the SC Right from Kolar, but they would equally take a name from the SC Left. The activists claim that the community deserves representation and that there are almost 4 lakh SC Right voters in the Kolar area.

Muniyappa claimed to have received a commitment a week ago at a meeting with high ranking members of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee that his son-in-law will get the Kolar ticket. The leader repeated the demand later in a meeting with Mallikarjun Kharge, and the top leadership of the Congress told him that it would be met.

Following rumors that Muniyappa’s son-in-law Pedanna may get the ticket, Kolar district leaders in the Karnataka Congress revolted within days, going to arms against Muniyappa and any other family members who might win the ticket.

News18 was informed by a different opposition leader that Muniyappa’s son-in-law was facing many corruption allegations and was under investigation by the Karnataka Lokayukta. In addition, Pedanna is a current government employee who has not yet tendered his resignation. He would have to step down and be released from office, which would cost him valuable campaigning time and take at least a month.

Muniyappa has persisted obstinately in obtaining his son-in-law a ticket. In response, he said that at least ten ministers’ and Congress MLAs’ relatives have been granted tickets for this round of the Lok Sabha elections. “I’m also insisting on one.” My choice will be based on the result in the end. I restate my commitment to heeding the high command’s decision on the matter. However, I can assure you that it would be pointless to provide a ticket to a loser. Muniyappa said, “You need a winner, and I have faced many elections and know how to win one.”

Additionally, he mocked the politicians who were protesting, calling their actions “drama.” “None of them is going to quit. Drama is all that exists. The plan is to have an event of this kind and pose a danger to the current administration, which fears that Muniyappa would win handily if he is granted a ticket, he said.

Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah stood up for the organizers of the demonstration and objected to the term “drama” used to describe the dissent.

Who is expressing this? There was no “drama” involved. It is only normal for one group to respond differently to anything spoken by the other. The CM said that the problem has not yet been fixed.

Shivakumar also made an attempt to calm the opposition by saying that no decision has been made yet and that certain lawmakers were alarmed because they “thought” that a ticket to Pedanna was set in stone.

“We haven’t disclosed the ticket to anyone, and a group decision will be made.” Each person must follow the party line. Maintaining discipline within the party is our top responsibility, the deputy CM said.

The leaders who are in disagreement have made the decision to hold off on speaking about the matter until after the Congress high command makes its final ruling.