Lagatar24 Desk
Bengaluru, May 23: D K Shivakumar, the chief of the Karnataka Congress, announced on Monday that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the party’s national general secretary, had agreed to campaign and spend time in the state ahead of the Assembly elections next year.
The KPCC chief’s unexpected trip to New Delhi came amid reports of a rift between him and Congress Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah over potential candidates for the state’s impending MLC elections.
Shivakumar said he had been to the capital for party business, and the final candidate list is expected to be released this evening.
Notably, the deadline to register nominations for the Karnataka Legislative Council elections on June 3 is tomorrow, and all three major political parties in the state, the Congress, the BJP, and the JD(S) have yet to announce their candidates.
The election is necessary since seven MPs’ terms of office are slated to expire on June 14.
Due to the retirement of MLCs Laxman Sangappa Savadi and Lahar Singh Siroya of the BJP; Ramappa Timmapur, Allum Veerabhadrappa, Veena Achaiah S of the Congress; and H M Ramesha Gowda and Narayana Swamy K V of the JD — the seats will be empty.
According to official sources, each MLC candidate will need a minimum of 29 votes to win this election, and based on the minimum votes required and the strength of each party in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP will be able to win four seats, the Congress two, and the JD(S) one.
